Arguably the easiest stage on this year’s route, these 153.5km take the race into the heart of Champagne country to finish in the beautiful cathedral city of Reims.
While not as flat as previous stages, there are no significant lumps and it’s a relatively short distance. That means that there’s barely time for any breakaway riders to build a useful advantage before the sprinters’ teams will gather to chase them down.
A possible complicating factor is the wind on Champagne’s exposed plains, but it would have to be some breeze to trouble the peloton enough to lead to a split. Nevertheless, if it is windy you can expect the riders to be nervous. Ultimately, that’s likely to mean that crashes are a bigger threat to the favourites than the formation of echelons.
Stage profile
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'I saved it for the last lap' - Tibor Del Grosso put pressure on Thibau Nys across final hill to secure silver in first elite appearance at Cyclo-cross World Championships
'I think it proves that I belong in the top of the sport' two-time U23 'cross world champion confirmed -
Arianna Fidanza sprints to victory at Pionera Race-SCV
Laboral Kutxa-Euskadi grabs ninth team victory on early season, with Laura Asencio's second place a milestone for new French team Ma Petite Entreprise -
'I was prepared for any scenario' – Mathieu van der Poel says he took more caution as he chased record-breaking eighth cyclo-cross world title
'Maybe it's not a bad idea to skip one winter' Dutchman adds as he turns focus to upcoming road season -
Thibau Nys gets stuck on wrong tyres after late rainfall and salvages bronze for Belgium at Cyclo-cross World Championships
'Losing a couple of seconds every corner was not nice, but Mathieu was the strongest, so we don't really have the feeling that we missed out on a title or anything'
