The Tour calms down today with a long parade and a likely sprint.
Vauquelin ends the drought: another solid breakaway including the polka-dotted Jonas Abrahamsen. No threats on GC meant so DSM let them take time. It was only over the hills that the other teams upped the pace, but this was defensive on the climbs and amid a surprising crosswind. Safety but Laurens De Plus, Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson crashed and in response the peloton seemed to ease up and the gap went out 10 minutes. Victor Campenaerts though led the chase and took a chunk out of the lead, only four minutes by Bologna.
Having scaled the San Luca once Nelson Oliveira attacked the breakaway on the boulevards of Bologna. As Arkéa had two riders in the break one of them had to respond. Was it clever that Kévin Vauquelin did not follow instantly? It allowed Oliveira to open a gap and then Vauquelin could use his skills – a frustrated second in the recent French TT championships – to bridge across, rather than close it down. Abrahamsen followed but as soon as the San Luca climb started Vauquelin attacked to go solo. It’d been almost 24 hours since a Frenchman won a stage.
Embed from Getty Images
Few would have had Vauquelin winning after being dropped the previous day, he said he’d been “at the bottom of the bucket” to use the literal translation which half works. But a big win was due. Second in the Flèche Wallonne, a defeat that he said he’s thought about probably every day since. Plenty would have been delighted with a podium finish, he’s been consumed by it.
Vauquelin has grown up in cycling in his native Normandy, collecting regional and national titles on the road and track since he was a boy. He was turning out 6.5W/kg… as a cadet, the 15-16 year old category, according to L’Equipe’s vital podcast. What kind of rider he’ll become remains to be seen but you’ll have read here before he’s reminiscent of Geraint Thomas, a rouleur who wants to become a grimpeur as well. Even amid the delight yesterday he was saying he only won from the breakaway: he sees himself one day going up against the best for the win.
Embed from Getty Images
We got two races for the price of one. It was a day rich in information for the overall classification even if the time gaps were compact. Tadej Pogačar is now in yellow with Jonas Vingegaard matching his attack on the San Luca climb, the Dane’s rehab seems on track.
Just behind the pair was Remco Evenepoel. He is looking sharp – no frikandel, he told TV he’s lost 2.5kg since the Dauphiné – and he caught Pogačar and Vingegaard by the finish with Richard Carapaz for company. The Ecuadorian is a very interesting position now as of late he’s tried to follow moves and imploded, now he was there even if the workload with Evenepoel was hardly 50-50.
The surprise on the downside was Roglič. Out of position and unable to respond on familiar ground but he only lost 21 seconds. Worse off were Santiago Buitrago, Geraint Thomas, Jack Haig, Chris Harper and Derek Gee who aren’t done for if they want a top-10 but lost time.
Many sprinters finished way down but there was no point fighting for time. However it was notable that once again Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen were adrift in the hills of Emilia-Romagna, distanced when rival sprinters were not.
The Route: 230km, the longest of the race and there’s no point trying to decrypt every kilometre of the course. After Bartali and Pantani, now Coppi gets the limelight with the visit to Tortona where he lived.
The Barbaresco climb is amid the vineyards and the road keeps on going up after the KoM point.
The final climb is 3km long with a bit of 7% as it goes to Sommariva, the hilltop town whose name is derived from “summit” but it’s not much of a launchpad even the opposite, a chance to eject suffering sprinters as there’s still 50km to go.
The Finish: a flat run along the Corso Unione Sovietica, a long straight road past the Fiat factory.
At 900m to go there is a 90° left turn, another with 750m to go and it’s onto the finishing straight by the Olympic park. A dragster finish.
The Contenders: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is the reductive pick. He’s been beaten a few times this season but now his sprint train is upgraded with Mathieu van der Poel who even Philipsen finds hard to follow.
Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco) gets a stage to suit, the last climb is an hour from the finish, there are days when these obstacles come closer.
Beyond them things open up more. Three days in a row for French riders? Tough as Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) would like a more acrobatic finish. It suits Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) more and he won the intermediate sprint yesterday but parlaying that into triumph today is a massive ask, he hasn’t had a podium finish this year.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Wout van Aert (Visma-LAB), Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dsnty) might not have the pure speed but an opening and they can win.
Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X) might like a thunderstorm or more but has a beefy leadout. Sam Bennett (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) is in the mix but not an easy pick. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain) likewise. Do Intermarché-Wanty back Biniam Girmay or Gerben Thijssen… or both?
Mark Cavendish (Astana) isn’t an easy pick after the struggles on the hills, likewise Fabio Jakobsen (DSM), they’ve had it harder although and there’s always the chance some team exploit this by upping the pace on the climbs. If you want to rate sprinters on fitness Pascal Ackermann has (IPT) been among the last sprinters to be dropped… but that doesn’t equate to speed today.
| | Philipsen, Groenewegen | | | Pedersen | | | Girmay, WvA, De Lie, Kristoff, Démare, Bauhaus |
Weather: 28°C with some clouds.
TV: a long day for those doing live commentary. KM0 is at 11.35am and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Dip in to see if anything is happening but otherwise take a leaf out of the sprinters’ books and get in place for the finish.
Postcard from Torino: here were again after the Giro d’Italia’s grande partenza. It’s the home of brands like Fiat and Lavazza and long time the seat of the Italian monarchy until the establishment of today’s republic in 1946. It’s this history that is of interest today because to speak of the Italian royal family is a relatively modern concept, instead for the best part of a thousand years the Casa Savoia (“House of Savoy”, at times the Duchy, Kingdom, County et cetera) ruled the north-west corner of Italy and beyond into the Alps which are now in France. The great stages of the Tour de France to come, whether on the Galibier tomorrow or the final days in the Alps and Nice were for centuries under “Italian” rule.
Embed from Getty Images
Today Italy is a republic but a monarchical tradition persists with the use of the colour blue. Italy’s flag is the tricolore of green, white and red but sports teams wears blue. This is the blu Savoia and the azure tone supplies the collective term azzuri, as in “blues”, for the national sports teams whether it’s football, cycling, or in general at the Olympics. It is unusual to see national athletes in different colours to the flag but happens elsewhere, look at the Dutch and their oranje which is also a nod to the royal standard.
The post Tour de France Stage 3 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.