A stage in Brittany, the region of France where cycling as a sport is the most popular. There’s the now familiar finish at Mûr-de-Bretagne, two times up like the last time.
Reprendre La Manche: it took two hours of violent racing for the breakaway to get clear, 47km/h and on hilly terrain too. Moves formed and failed until Mathieu Van der Poel was away with Quinn Simmons, Ben Healy, Will Barta and Harald Tejada.
They were dangling clear, often 10-20 seconds and Eddie Dunbar, Simon Yates and Michael Storer bounded across to make eight. This latter trio almost had it easy, making one move and getting in the break while Healy had tried repeatedly.
Van der Poel had to make choices. Surrendering the stage to ensure he could keep up the pace to take back yellow and collect points for the green jersey?
Healy only made one attack but it was a textbook move, drifting off the back of the group to better accelerate so nobody could react with 40km to go. There was a stand-off among the rest and with that Healy was away in his crab-like asymmetric style, “chaplinesque” writes Alexandre Roos in this morning’s L’Equipe.
A lively stage, a regret that the finish wasn’t as frantic as the finish. There was a moment of suspense in the finish as the clock counted down and by one second Van der Poel took the yellow jersey. It was close and Visma-LAB accelerated hard in the final, presumably hearing Van der Poel had cracked and there was a chance to keep Pogačar in yellow and add to his fatigue. They missed by a second but the bigger picture is that if all they can do is try to put Pogačar in yellow then… Pogačar is going to be in yellow instead of them.
The Route: 197km and 2,450m of vertical gain. There are few difficulties but the race is close to the coast and exposed througout.
With 20km to go the race climbs up to the village of Mûr-de-Bretagne/Guerlédan and then takes a right turn onto the finishing circuit.
The Finish: the same finishing circuit as 2021. The main road climb is climbed twice. It’s a long open road and not a particularly technical climb but climbing it twice will thin down the peloton and blunt the legs of some of the heavier riders. Once over the line there’s a second climb and then a gentle descent.
There’s a right turn onto the foot of the climb to slow things and then the same road to the finish. It’s 2km at an average of 6.9% but this isn’t an average climb, it’s got 500m at 10-12% before the 1km to go point and then the slope eases off to the line. It’s all on a wide road.
The Contenders: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won here in 2021, the route suits, he’s got a yellow jersey to defend and the finish is where he can score points than Jonathan Milan. Only he’ll be rinsed from yesterday and he’s a one day rider rather than a stage racer, he put his implosion yesterday down to the efforts in previous days.
A breakaway is possible but far from certain, it’ll be easier to control the race on the flatter terrain. It’s almost self-fulfilling, if a four longshots go clear than they won’t stay away, if there’s a raging battle for an hour then things change. The former seems more likely but reach Paris and some might rue not throwing everything at it here. Plus UAE probably want Pogačar out of yellow and this is the last chance to do it with two flat sprint stages looming; but Visma-LAB want the opposite.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE) is the obvious pick for many reasons but his team can set a strong pace to get him to the line.
This finish has rewarded a rider taking a flyer before, think Dan Martin and Alexis Vuillermoz, both riders capable of sustained anaerobic efforts on steep climbs. Who is there in the peloton today? Lenny Martinez (Bahrain) fits the bill the best, especially as Michael Woods (IPT) is 38.
It’s hard to see past more riders. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) has been tipped before, to no avail but we’ll see again as he’s suited for the finish. Axel Laurance (Ineos) can go deep in a sprint. Marc Hirschi (Tudor) fits on past results but he’s been discreet this season.
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Pogačar |
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Van der Poel, Martinez, Laurance, Hirschi |
Weather: sunshine and 26°C. The wind is back with a 25km/h breeze from the NE and it could gust to 40km/h and with this crosswind risk is back.
TV: KM0 is at 12.25pm, the intermediate sprint at 3.30pm and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST.
Postcard from Yffiniac
The Tour de France is a palimpsest. This phrase was used the other day, but it’s in the spirit to use it again today. Today’s stage goes through Yffiniac, birthplace and long-time home of Bernard Hinault, the jaw jutting five-time Tour de France winner.
Today and the stage to Superbagnères alike we might hear plenty of Hinault anecdotes during quieter moments of TV. While France waits for another Tour de France winner, they’re unlikely to be “the new Hinault” as he was as much a force of character as a physical specimen.
His debut in the 1978 Tour de France was notable because he led a rider’s strike that year, aged 23. It before he took the yellow jersey that year too, he became the peloton’s patron by hostile takeover.
The following year Hinault got annoyed by the TI-Raleigh team trying to split the race on a flat stage of the Tour. Despite the might of the Dutch team – think Visma-LAB today – they did not quite manage it. Annoyed, Hinault decided to show them how it was done. He dumped the chain in the 12 sprocket and rode off. Panache? Possibly, but now he alone wasting energy with rival teams rotating to keep him at one minute. So Hinault’s own Renault team started chasing in order to stop him wasting his energy in a show of pride. It’s hard to imagine the scene today, Bahrain might have been wiser to get Lenny Martinez to call off his enery-wasting attack on Stage 4 the other day but they could just have asked him on the radio or sent a team car up alongside.
The order to chase came from Cyrille Guimard, Hinault’s directeur sportif for many years. At the pre-season training camps Guimard insisted all riders assemble for training on time, a value to instil before anyone turned a pedal. All complied, except Hinault who would rebel and complain. Guimard had to make an exemplary punishment of a young rider, “pour encourager les autres” to borrow Voltaire. Only on the inside Guimard admired the rebellion, to have a rider who refused to submit was an asset because if Hinault was late it was not because he was lazy, it was because he was a rebel. Once he pinned a number he would be only to happy to overturn riders and hierarchies.