Stage 3 (Monday 28: 13:50–13:55 → 17:30–17:55)

The first of two flat stages for sprinters Wiebes in a row.

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Ben Healy (🇮🇪 EF) got the Super-Combative title. The official rules state that it is only selected by the jury “at the end of the Tour de France”. So apparently the Tour ended this morning… 🧐 😠

Still amazed at how many female riders can crash in seemingly unremarkable situations. It had gotten better in last year’s edition, but we seem to be back to the number of crashes of the year before. No massive crash though, more individual / little groups this year.

Yeah, it was surprising to see that basically the whole Jayco team had gone on holiday (I can’t imagine they were trying to bring Greenpaths to a sprint). A Plapp would have been immensely useful on this type of terrain, if it had been one of the few days in the year when he consents to ride (but if you are Australian, perhaps you know better than me, if he experienced some trouble in the first part of the race).

Jegat was lucky (and O’Connor unlucky) that despite a hell of a lot of infighting among the breakaway, there was almost no down-time at the front: infighting only made them go faster and faster, instead of the usual alternance of faster/slower. Even the crash didn’t slow down the front of the race.

A hectic race anyway. There was just a short moment of calm, mid-race, between the point when the breakaway finally got a substantial gap and Jegat’s (inconsiderate?) attack in the 2^nd category climb. But otherwise…

Stage 2 (Sunday 27: 12:10–12:30 → 15:05–15:20)

Going backwards in Brittany.

The stage takes place before the (men) Tour de France last stage.

At the Intermediate Sprint, only 1.5 rider seemed interested in the points.

I am not sure because I really don’t know them well, but wasn’t it a little bit the same for GC, with several riders, whom one may have expected to put up a fight, having a bit of a Roglitch attitude? Do many riders submit to the favourite(s) and already give up on GC before the first stage is finished?

Bun under the helmet: check! 😀

But he couldn’t join the right breakaway. I suppose the Super-Combative title slipped away on that stage.

In fact, it was Jegat (🇫🇷 Total), 11^th and 4′08 behind O’Connor who attempted something, with a great deal of self-sacrifice because he wasn’t welcomed in the breakaway, and after his own attack on the 2^nd cat. climb, he was cooked for the rest of the race, and struggled to stay in wheels from group to group until the end. He was lucky there were many splits and always someone with which to ride together.

Nobody attempted anything for mountain points, and the breakaway took all the points of the Intermediate Sprint.

Stage 1 (Saturday 26: 17:25–17:40 → 19:25–19:40)

The timing is made so that the women race starts right after the penultimate stage of the (men) Tour de France finishes.

I wonder what are the odds of seeing Q. Simmons tying his hair in a bun to put them under his helmet and going to the battlefield tomorrow. Must be close to 1:1 😛

A few points in rankings that may generate a bit of action if relevant riders are not cooked and still have some fighting spirit.

In GC :

• Onley (🇬🇧 Picnic), 4^th, is still only 1 minute behind Lipowitz (🇧🇪 Bora), 3^rd (this is also the battle for winning white jersey);
• Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Arkéa), 7^th, is 2′20 behind T. Johannessen (🇳🇴 Uno-X), 6^th.

In mountain classification (as said in the post):

• Vingegaard (🇩🇰 Visma), 2^nd, is 13 points behind Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE), 1^st;
• L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrein), 3^rd, is 7 points behind Vingegaard;
• Arensman (🇳🇱 Ineos), 4^th, is 12 points behind Martinez.

Regarding points classification:

• Girmay (🇪🇷 Intermarché), 3^rd, is 59 points behind Pogatchar, 2^nd;
• Vingegaard (yeah, well…), 4^th, is 31 points behind Girmay;
• Turgis (🇫🇷 Total), 5^th, is 13 points behind Vingegaard.

After one of the first mini-attacks by Pogatchar, as Onley stayed in the wheels but Lipowitz was dropped a little bit, I thought Bora could lose everything they had 30 km from the finish line yesterday. But in the end, it is Onley who was dropped, and Lipowitz keeps and strengthens his podium.

I am surprised to see L. Martinez finish well (11^th, better than O’Connor, Jegat, Vauquelin who were fighting for their GC ranking), I thought he would drop after losing his chances to score big points in the final climb.

There is an epidemic amongst cows. Cattle breeders / milk farmers are unhappy angry (unhappy is their normal condition, when they attack at night green and left-wing party offices with the blessing of police forces which just watch them without stopping them, without bringing them in, without even registering IDs or vehicle plates). When farmers are angry, they attack anything that vaguely looks related to the State, or common good. The State refuses to apply law and order when it is about farmers, the State just caves in (unless it happens in Paris, where suddenly they find their gas canisters and truncheons again). If there was a left-wing demonstration, the Police / riot squad would just spray teargas everywhere, beat 'em up and cuff the whole lot; but they let those Poujadist, semi-fascist, semi-mafia organisations do whatever damage they wish to do and often grant them what they want (rinse and repeat).

So, as the Police will not do its job, the Tour has to go somewhere else.

BREAKING NEWS

For a ludicrous reason, the stage will be shortened by 40 km.

The first 2 climbs are cancelled! (and the Sprint is either moved or cancelled too.) They will go straight from Albertville to Beaufort by a valley road. If you have good eyes, you can see Beaufort on my map; if you haven’t, you can see it on the profile 😀

The start will be postponed by one hour ⇒ 14:30 French Time.

Therefore, there won’t be 60 mountain points to grab but only 45.

edit: here are the new map and profile:

As you can see, there will be an Intermediate Sprint after 12 km (therefore in a type of location very similar to the original one).

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Ilandar proposed a good motivation for Visma.

But a larger question is IMO: why didn’t anybody pull? And by pulling, I simply mean a moderate pace, to keep the following groups significantly behind.

• The 2 Bora, Roglitch and Lipowitz could secure and improve their GC position, versus Onley and Vauquelin;
• Gall in order not to waste the efforts in the first climbs by Armirail and himself, and give himself a small chance to win;
• Arensman with the same kind of reasons, but for the mountain points; he and Gall could also have joined the attacks, not sure if they tried.

Not a single attack before the Intermediate Sprint. All teams had agreed that Milan should take the green jersey…

Is this the revival day of Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora)? He seems relatively easy; he’s in the first group anyway.

Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrein) scores best mountain points (+20) in front of the first group, after struggling all climb long. Arensman (🇳🇱 Ineos) contested them, and scores second best points (+15).

Martinez was completely dropped in the descent.

Arensman descended well on the contrary, but in the second climb the Visma acceleration and Vingegaard/Pogatchar joining the first group made him go backwards and he could only score the last available 2 points. While pogatchar scored 15 points.

Icing on the cake, apparently L. Martinez got a penalty for clinging onto a car. Minus 8 mountain points…

G. Martin (🇫🇷 FDJ) exploded. He was ranked 12^th this morning, and basically the last of the riders going for GC. He finishes the stage almost 30 minutes behind…

Carlos Rodriguez (Inéos), 10^th place in GC, will not start today, after crashing twice yesterday (first time when Alaphilippe hit the hay of the road shoulder, second time in the final major crash).

Same fate for Barthe (FDJ), first man down in the final crash, who was also doing a rather good Tour (for his limited abilities).

I found neither Visma nor UAE teams very strong on this Tour; and lieutenants are out of shape (Jorgenson, Kuss) or simply out (Almeida), therefore out of the equation. Therefore, it resolves to 1 leader vs 1 leader. And as you say, since Pogatchar always manages to stick to Vingegaard, no sophisticated tactics can do a thing about it.