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Not sure I have the words to describe chaos of yesterdays stage so I won't try.
But what of the race? Is the GC over already? Is Sagan the baddie? will Lachlan Morton win the GC by just being the last man standing?
Lets see what today brings.
The 4th stage of the Tour de France is played out in inland Brittany. At 150.4 kilometres, the riders travel on virtually flat terrain from Redon to Fougères.
Fougères hosted the Tour de France three times in the past ten years. Mostly it served as a start venue, while the 2015 edition saw a sprint finish. Those were the glory days of Mark Cavendish and he outgunned André Greipel and Peter Sagan on the line.
A new sprint finish is on the cards. Elevation gain is nearly absent on the roads between Redon and Fougères. oFugères is a small place and there a few roundabouts to negotiate on the approach road around town. There’s a pinch point roundabout within the final kilometre and then a wide road until the line. It kicks up right before line with a 4% rise for the last 250m.
Situated on both sides of the Nançon river, Fougères is an enchanting town with old timber-framed houses and a Castle flanked by towers and ramparts. The feudal construction was built on a rock emerging from a swamp surrounded by a loop of the Nançon river, so it was virtually impossible te besiege.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
Who to watch out for?
Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) won yesterday with a strong leadout from his team, he’s the best bet again but given the ease yesterday they could easily play Jasper Philipsen or even Mathieu van der Poel.
Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) was taken out by a crash yesterday but crossed the line with a thumb’s up and so should be ok today and we’ll see what he can do.
Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain) will like the final rise to the line. And Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-Quickstep) has a chance today too
Yesterday? Yesterday.
Looks on paper like like a slow, boring stage. There’s even talk of a rider go-slow for the first 50km. I really hope it is, for the sake of the riders, the race and my nerves.
Does yesterdays crashes to some of the sprinters play into Cav's hand for today?
4% for 250m? Doesn’t sound like Cav to me - but if he’s still rubber side down…
Looks on paper like like a slow, boring stage. There’s even talk of a rider go-slow for the first 50km. I really hope it is, for the sake of the riders, the race and my nerves.
You can argue the relative merits of what the UCI and the race organisers did / did not do yesterday - was the run in too dangerous for example? But ultimately the two crashes that took out Thomas and Roglic were both caused by those two riders and the peloton at some point needs to have a bit of an inward look too.
I suspect there will be some form of rider protest today, even if only for an hour.
Although given the layout of the stage, not sure it'll be much different from the normal format - bunch sits there taking it easy, gives a breakaway 4-5 minutes, reels them in, sprinty sprinty. Be like that but without the breakaway which potentially adds to the problems...
It certainly can't hurt him can it... Merlier was good but far from amazing, with Ewan out, Griepel being potentially injured as well as Sagan.... well, it gives Cav more chances for sure.
It kicks up right before line with a 4% rise for the last 250m.
On paper, WVA although he said yesterday he was saving everything for the TT tomorrow.
Sagan - if he's not too sore from yesterday.
MvdP - no real need to sprint but no reason why not. Alpecin-Fenix have a couple of cards to play, could even go with Tim Merlier again.
Sonny Colbrelli tends to be good on those little rises too.
Cav - hmm, outside chance. The sort of finish you'd put an E/W bet on for him, not a win bet!
Alaphillipe punches those rises well. If he can get to the last 3km protected and unscathed he could win ir, and grab some time bonuses
Would there be a benefit to the riders in not having bonus seconds for the first few across the line? That way it's just the sprint teams competing, everyone else can cruise over from 3km back and most sprinters aren't troubling the GC anyway so bonus seconds are irrelevant.
By giving a few seconds away as a bonus you're asking the GC teams to get involved too, which adds to the numbers of riders competing for road position in the final few km when the pace is high, there are potential pinchpoints in the parcours and risks of a crash go up.
Would there be a benefit to the riders in not having bonus seconds for the first few across the line?
On stages like yesterday the GC riders aren't racing for the bonus seconds, just to keep position to avoid losing time. The '3km rule' probably does help with this a bit as well - if you crash with <3km to go you don't lose any time. There are a couple of proposals to revise it, either taking GC at 3km (so the GC teams could then essentially freewheel to the finish) or making the cut-off more flexible so it can be placed wherever it's deemed safest.
I think they'll keep the time bonuses though as it allows non-GC teams to compete for the leaders jersey and creates more opportunities for stories in the first week.
Would there be a benefit to the riders in not having bonus seconds for the first few across the line? That way it’s just the sprint teams competing, everyone else can cruise over from 3km back and most sprinters aren’t troubling the GC anyway so bonus seconds are irrelevant.
It might help apart from if the cruise allows there to be a gap opening up to those giving it beans at the front for the sprint. So they have to stay in contact even if not full elbows out competing at the front. Which means they're still all 'cruising' along at 55kph with no gap and if someone goes down at the front the ripple soon reaches the back as well. Would be OK if it was just sprinters but in this race within a race, even the GC contenders are doubling up as the lead out teams for their fast men, so they all have to.
I also wonder if the 3km rule actually hinders safety, because everyone's invested in being in the group for that cutoff in case there is a crash and a split. So there's more people involved, for a longer period (from about 15km out that everyone and his dog is fighting to be near the front) and there's less concern at that point for the road furniture and bends and even spectators.
Of the crashes yesterday - the Roglic one even at 10km was caused by the race for the 3km mark. The Ewan one was a sprinters crash (and a bit of Sagan being Sagan as well). And G was just being G, like the first cuckoo of spring, or swallows on the wing, you can tell it's late June because G crashes.
And G was just being G, like the first cuckoo of spring, or swallows on the wing, you can tell it’s late June because G crashes.
Accurate.
I don't get why some riders are more prone to this than others. Sprinters I understand, you're doing 70kph inches from everyone else, inches from barriers and spectators. But even then there are people who just crash far more often that averages or statistics would suggest. G is one of those - yet he's clearly an exceptional bike handler, you don't win the Tour (or the Team Pursuit gold medal) by being a bit shit.
🤷♂️
Still don't know what took G out yesterday, didn't seem to be a touch of wheels, he just seemed to spontaneously fall off.
By giving a few seconds away as a bonus you’re asking the GC teams to get involved too, which adds to the numbers of riders competing for road position in the final few km when the pace is high, there are potential pinchpoints in the parcours and risks of a crash go up.
On the other hand all that adds to the excitement and makes for better viewing - which at the end of the day is what makes the event. Applying a bit of "reductio ad absurdum", remove all the distractions and you might as well just put the sprinters on a 300m track with clearly defined lanes, and see who's fastest.
As Chris Boardman said last night, the race has always been run on roads, and crashes early in the TDF are often rider nerves, not route choice or road layout.
With regard my point above about time bonuses, the GC teams are sending semi-fast guys up to negate the points for other GC riders on the off chance, rather than really expecting to win against the true sprinters. Take the bonus seconds away, then those teams don't need to be playing right at the front.
As pointed out though, many of yesterday's crashes were not directly related to the sprint or getting into position in the last few km.
Which is the team that has those shorts with kevlar, or something similar, woven in?
Looks like a few more could do with that kind of tech in their clothing.
Edit: looks like it's Dyneema thread used but can only find older references to Alpecin Fenix using it.
As Chris Boardman said last night, the race has always been run on roads, and crashes early in the TDF are often rider nerves, not route choice or road layout
There is some truth in this. Every year we talk about how many crashes there are in the first few days.
Yep unfortunately Chris knows a thing or two about crashing in the first week
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/07/98/tour_de_france/131943.stm
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/boardman-crashes-out-1589419.html
Was there any sort of early protest? Just switching on live coverage on ITV4 now and it seems to be situation normal...
yeah a bit of one but wasn't exactly a riot in the streets.
I don’t get why some riders are more prone to this than others.
Presumably G's and Rog's crashes were momentary lapses of concentration? They weren't doing anything difficult, they were just sat in the peloton day dreaming?
What's the pod thing stuck to the left fork leg on this bike? I've noticed quite a few (but not all?) of the riders have them. Some kind of GPS tracking device?
Yes, exactly that. Sometimes they'll slip a piece of inner tube over the tag and the fork leg to make ia bit more aero
WvA might be interested in the time bonus today (MvdP might also be sprinting). (bet he'd love to take yellow off MvdP in the TT tomorrow)
I think there might be a few people looking to vault up the standings a bit in the TT tomorrow! Opportunity to make back some time lost in the crashes. Hopefully the GC riders today will get under the 3km and then just sit at the back out of the way.
Edit - one hell of a good leadout for Cav there to get first (in the bunch) over the intermediate sprint (3rd across the line overall). I reckon Cav is up for this finish.
Cav had a cigar out there!
I reckon he's also up for the green overall in his thinking, you wouldn't keep trying to do well in the intermediates if you were planning on bailing half way etc ?
Suddenly the peloton have woken up to the possibility that a lone rider might win this! I reckon it'll come to the final 300m.
GET IN!!!!
Oh my God that was nail biting!
Great finish
**** yeah
Wow!
That was something else!
YEEESSSSS!!!!
Wow. Emotional.
Get in Cav!
What a finish that was.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!!!! I'm actually crying a bit seeing this.
GOAT?
NNNOOOOO..... YYYEEESSSSS!!
Great win.
That was incredible!
Just WOW. Bit dusty here too
Wow! practically burst into tears at that. Epic.
LOL i was holding the tears back when he was celebrating !!!!
SPOTY!
Totally overcome with emotion. I think the whole street heard me screaming for him to get there
what a man
The moment when you saw him pulling ahead was fantastic. And did alaphillipe lead him out?
Redemption! What. A. Finish.
Wow……
Actual tears here for Mark!
The Manx Missile is back!
Don't often shout at the TV, but that was special...
Classic Manx Missile.... the timing Boom see ya lads
This
Totally overcome with emotion. I think the whole street heard me screaming for him to get there
what a man
And this
Just WOW. Bit dusty here too
Such a cool head.
And a lot of respect from the peloton.
Never seen him speechless though.
Wow. Goosebumps
YES!
Just simply amazing.
Brightened up a very meh day, what a finish!
I am glad my wife is not here to see me wiping tears away!
That is Mark from 10 years ago.
Mate of mine newish to cycling told me that the alpacin fenix rider would have destroyed him had they not been pulling for the other guy.....
The over top showed classic lock on Manx missile that no one can match.
I've just sent him the Columbia renshaw/cav pairing at the champs Elysees in 2009 for education
is he also in green ? yes he is 😀
Yep, taken it from his team-mate Alaphilippe by 4 points.
Which is nice because we get a World Champs jersey back in the peloton. 🙂
THE GREEN JERSEY??!!
Epic, what a comeback. So pleased for Cav to be having the season he unquestionably deserves this year.
Doesn't matter what happens for the rest of the day now Cav won another stage of the TdF.
Wow, how awesome was that!!
Incredible stuff from Cavendish. The GOAT!
What an amazing four stages we've had so far. Incredible drama.
Did they all manage to stay rubber side down today?
yeah pretty boring really 😀
Wow - awesome finish. It was like the clock had been rolled back a few years. Can he get Merckx's all time stage win record? 3 to equal it and 4 to beat it. That said he already has the sprint stage wins by a country mile 🙂
What. A. Comeback
🙂
bloody pollen!
One for the Sagan fans, why was he shoulder barging Alaphilippe between 1.6 and 1.5 km?
Great day for Cav, how are his climbing legs? Can he get to Paris?
Yes, I've got something in my eye too...certainly livened up my MS Teams call, not sure my colleagues understood what was happening...thought I was having some kind of "episode"!
...just brilliant 😃
I believe the important business of the Tour is now complete, nothing more to see here. Are we off the the Vuelta now?
😁🤗😋😉😎
Rubber side down and green side up.
PS - he’s going to pay for it in the TT having to race in the sponsors green skinsuit. He’ll be losing time. 😉
EPIC!!!
Not screamed at the TV like that fir a while. ****in’ brilliant.