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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Grasshopper Adventure Series: Brennan Wertz delivers knock-out punch in three-up sprint for third consecutive win at Huffmaster
Alia Shafi opens new gravel season with sprint victory against Grasshopper veterans Flavia Oliveira Parks and Jen Tavé -
Sean Kelly's Classics Column: Sometimes, you have to be a glass-cranker
The nine-time Monument winner analyses a crash-filled Opening Weekend and questions whether Van der Poel's rivals could've done more -
'I’m excited to get stuck in myself again and finally race' – Tadej Pogačar primes for season debut at Strade Bianche with Isaac del Toro in support
UAE Team Emirates-XRG confirm team for Italian one-day race, with Tim Wellens out due to injury sustained at Opening Weekend -
Olympic silver medalist Haley Batten wins debut at Belgium Waffle Ride Arizona while Russell Finsterwald surges in two-up sprint for elite men's victory
Final singletrack section proves decisive for last year's BWR series overall winner as he shuts down long-range attack by Andrew L'Esperance
