A sprint stage and a visit to the centre of France today, or at least to two of the places that stake their claim to be the geographical centre of the country.
Stage 9 Review: notes to commend a fine day’s racing with plenty of action and constantly changing scenarios:
The Route: 187km and 950m of vertical gain, the flattest stage of the race outside of last week’s time trial. That mysterious bump close to the finish? Nothing much, a long straight road that does rise but no more than 5% for a brief moment.
The course does have some changes of direction, it goes east to Vierzon, then south, the east, then south as if trying to catch the wind but it might not blow enough.
The Finish: a run through town to finish by the pyramidal building, a site that has hosted previous Tour and Paris-Nice finishes. Rather than a straight run to the line there are three bends in the final kilometre, a pinchpoint at 700m with the final corner at 500m to go.
The Contenders: a likely sprint stage. There’s no hierarchy but Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) is the persistent pick for close finishes, he’s clearly not got last year’s form, likewise his leadout Mathieu van der Poel but he’s coming close. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco) has shown he can win fast flat sprints, likewise Mark Cavendish (Astana).
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) is close easier to see for a “podium” (nobody who finishes second or third actually visits the podium) and the flat finish isn’t what green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) thrives but he can keep racking up points by placing too.
| | Philipsen, Groenewegen | | | Cavendish, Girmay | | | De Lie |
Weather: sunny and 29°C with a risk of a thunderstorm late in the stage but more likely in the evening. When the Tour came here in 2013 the route looked the most dull stage of the Tour on paper but crosswinds turned it into a big day but this is normally a calm region. A weather system is coming in but gently, and a 15km/h wind from the WSW means a crosswind and it could gust stronger but unlikely.
TV: KM0 is at 1.25pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.35pm CEST. Tune in for the sprint, tomorrow’s stage offers a lot more.
Postcard from Bruère-Allichamps
Where is the centre of France? With 10km to go today there is Bruère-Allichamps and as the postcard shows it hosts the “column of the centre of France”. The finish today Saint-Amand-Montrond also stakes a claim, as do five more places.
It’s a tricky question. First we have to define what is France because as a political entity it includes overseas departments in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean. More often métropolitain France is typically deployed, as in mainland France but do we include Corsica or not? This only narrows things down.
Bruère-Allichamps got there first when cartographers selected it in the late 18th century but this was a rudimentary attempt using the best means at the time. Clearly maps were only partially accurate and France’s borders have since changed which tweaks things significantly.
Today it is possible to be more accurate, even to account for the curvature of the planet. France’s Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière, the government agency tasked with measuring and mapping France’s geography, often better known as IGN, has worked on this geodetic project. Using the “Affholder method”, it involves plotting the boundaries of the area, in this case France, on a spheroid to mimic the Earth’s curvature and then to finding the centre of gravity – which sits slightly below the surface – and marking the place above. So where is the centre? The answer is for the race to continue past Saint-Amand for 30km to reach the small village of Nassigny; or if you want to exclude Corsica then nearby Vesdun just to the northwest.
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