Another day for the sprinters as the peloton lines up for 175.1km of flat and fast racing where Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Max Kanter (XDS Astana) will be going head-to-head in a furious dash to the line in Bordeaux.
The Tour de France leaves the Pyrenees behind and heads north from Hagetmau on flat roads through Landes forest, the largest man-made woodland in Western Europe.
The only interruptions are an intermediate sprint in Landiras and the cat. 4 Côte de Béguey, which crests 37km from the line, not enough to split the peloton. A bunch sprint finish on the banks of the Garonne is a near-certain outcome.
With 81 finishes since 1903, Bordeaux has seen numerous sprint winners, including Danny Van Poppel, Erik Zabel, Mark Cavendish and, on the last visit in 2023, Philipsen.
The sprinters at this edition of the Tour de France have had only one real opportunity so far, and it was swept up by Kooij on stage 5 in Pau. Pedersen has also won a stage from a breakaway on stage 4 into Foix. Watch for the other sprinters in their hunt for a stage win in Bordeaux.
Lyne has been involved in professional cycling for more than 15 years in both news reporting and sports marketing. She founded Podium Insight in 2008, quickly becoming a trusted source for news of the North American professional cycling world. She was the first to successfully use social media to consistently provide timely and live race updates for all fans. She is proud to have covered men's and women's news equally during her tenure at the helm of the site. Her writing has appeared on Cyclingnews and other news sites.
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