Peloton sets out toward Alps
Breakaway orf bunch finish?
After a good day of rest in Limoges in Central France, the peloton will embark on its long journey towards the Alps, starting with 193 rather flat kilometres to Issoudun.
A perfect day for the sprinters to race back into the limelight. But could a French breakaway on the day of the 'Fête Nationale' spoil their feast? The finish line in Issoudun, home of Olympic track champion Kevin Sireau, will tell.
See full-size map and profile.
Vaughters' views
Straight after a momentum-losing rest day, this is going to hurt. As the GC will be sorted quite a bit, some 95 percent of the peloton stand no chance of getting maillot jaune at this point, so breakaways wont be chased as fervently.
That said, everyone knows this, so 95percent of the peloton is trying to form a break, as they know they have a real chance of making it to the line.
This lends itself to a race pattern that takes a good 80km to finally get a break off the front. Attack after attack in the hilly, beef laden countryside of Limoges just hurts.
All this said, my bet is the break will try too hard to get out there in the first place and it comes back together for a sprint, with Mr. Cavendish winning.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Gallery: Mike Woods' beautiful watercolour Factor Ostro VAM for the Tour de France
This commercially-available paint scheme is being used by the whole team -
'Not a realistic comparison' – Remco Evenepoel's right-hand man dismisses criticism of Soudal-QuickStep and comparisons with Tadej Pogačar's support squad
'We can't do more than our best. I am convinced that we are all at a high level' says Ilan Van Wilder -
Unlock our daily Tour de France newsletter with a Cyclingnews subscription
Insights from our team on the ground directly into your inbox each day -
'Be careful to predict something from the Dauphiné' – Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe staying calm over possible Tour de France revelation Florian Lipowitz
'His performance shows there's a lot in there, but it's just impossible to predict' says team chief of sports as German prepares to support Primož Roglič