After the massacre on the cobbles yesterday today may be one for the break.
The parcour is “hilly” with our first Cat 3 climbs of the race, the last of which is an eye-watering 800m@12% only a few kilometres from a punchy finish.
Today is the longest stage of the tour at 220km, just what the riders needed after yesterday.
The stage suits your Classics Riders and many of yesterday’s protagonists may once again be at it. We have finally accepted that it might not be Matheiu Van Der Poel’s tour so will omit him from our predictions. We will almost certainly see Magnus Cort in the break as he looks to make it 5/5 today to secure more points in the King of the Mountain competition.
It is likely the GC teams will consolidate today and just look at recovering before the battles of the weekend. Most GC teams should allow a strong allrounder into the break. I think we will see the likes of Matej Mahoric and Tom Pidcock getting stuck in.
Teams committed to stage hunting will be sending their strongest up front or alternatively controlling the peloton to bring back a break. Teams such as Israel Premier Tech. Lotto Soudal and Total Energie are desperate to get more UCI ranking points to avoid relegation at the end of the season.
Our Top Picks:
Matej Mahoric
Mike Woods
Tim Wellens
Outside Picks:
Tiesj Benoot
Louis Leon Sanchez
