All eyes were on Jasper Phillipsen, this year’s sprint king but just as it looked like he had got it, across surged Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) to take his first ever stage win, and what a stage to do it on. Hitting the famous boulevard the peloton as is tradition was all together but not for long as the irrepressible Tadej Pogacar decided to shake things up and go out on the attack.Ĭould he defy the might of the peloton and take the unlikeliest of victories? Also no, and he wasn’t the last to try and audacious attack before everything came back to gather for a final mass gallop to the line. What starts with photo opportunities and glasses of champagne ends with the most highly prized sprint stage in front of the thousands that line the route. The final stage of the Tour is half procession and half eyeballs out racing up and down the cobbles of the Champs Elysée. His return of 12 victories from 19 starts is remarkable in the modern age but having not raced for so long will he be back at his very best? Until that point pretty much all he had to do was to start a race to win it.
The Slovenian he hasn’t raced since he crashed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 23, breaking his wrist. Vinegaard’s dominant display at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, where he won at a canter, suggests he is in the same sparkling form that saw him take last year’s race but the condition of his great rival Pogačar is not so certain. This is without doubt a race for the climbers whose battles will finish in the forested peaks of The Vosges on the slopes of the evil Col du Platzerwasel.Īs for the contenders, the two main protagonists, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vinegaard (Jumbo-Visma) are on paper so far ahead of anyone else that the rest appear to be just support actors. With just one time trial on the route: a 22km mainly uphill test on stage 16. Not climbed since 1988 this dormant volcano will provide a spectacular arena for the culmination of stage 9 and the end of the long first week.Ĭontinuing west to The Jura mountains there is a summit finish on top of the Grand Colombier and then two days later another summit finish in the Alps at Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc.
Make sure you know how to watch a Tour de France free live stream from anywhere.įrom here the race is headed west through the Pyrenees across legendary mountains such as the Col du Soudet and the mighty Col du Tourmalet before heading to the Massif Central and a return to the iconic Puy de Dome. Riding west to east the ‘Grand Depart’ took place outside France for the second year in a row across the border in the Basque Country in northern Spain.
This year’s Tour de France is less ‘La Grande Boucle’ (The Big Loop) and more a giant belt around the country’s waist. Paid streams: Peacock / USA Networks (USA) | FloBikes (CAN) | Sky Sport (NZ)
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