We’re seeing several stages in the Tour de France when nobody attacks. In the past there was always a move hoping for some publicity and the chance of beating the odds. No more…

Normally we’ve seen an early breakaway go. The flag drops and a handful of plucky riders take a flier. Race director Thierry Gouvenou has branded them “4×4” moves, as in four riders go up the road and get four minutes. This blog has labelled them 4x4x4 as four riders get four minutes in a forlorn move. These moves almost never work.

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Hope dies last goes the saying and a breakaway can make it. But here the Tour is a victim of its success. The early break can sometimes make it but it’s rare any time in the season. At the Tour though the sprinters’ teams can’t afford a mistake and the chances of the early break making it are to the right of the decimal place. It can depend on definitions but the last time the early breakaway survived on a sprint stage from the first half of the Tour was Thomas Voeckler’s triumph in Perpignan from 2009.

If they don’t bring victory they’ve been labelled an échappée publicitaire, literally a “commercial break” because riders go up the road and get exposure for their sponsors. Whether this is worth it is debatable, hours of logo on screen but signalling your brand rhymes with doomed moves is not great. It’d be cheaper to buy TV ad slots in the afternoon and craft a more targetted message than fund a pro team.

Riders though can make a name for themselves. As Yoann Offredo (pictured), a stalwart of the long breakaway, once quipped “there are some riders who only their mothers know are taking part in the Tour de France“. Jonas Abrahamsen has made a name for himself although he’s done more than the doomed moves but Offredo’s TV career today might owe itself in part to notoriety from all those moves.

“the stage slumped into the most dreary lethargy”
Antoine Blondin, L’Equipe 1968

Not every stage have action from start to finish, the glory of the Tour is its length. Surely no other sport can see a siesta guide published. Still a doomed move going up the road feels almost essential. There’s a story to follow as riders attack, we see the gap go up, we can see which team is chasing, we can see how the gap moves up and down. Even if the conclusion to the story seems more obvious.

This the illusion of suspense beats the lack of it. For television viewers the spectators get more shots as the producer can alternate between the breakaway and the peloton. Indeed the lack of sport is probably frustrating for TV viewers although if you are watching when nothing happens you can blame yourself as much as the riders or anyone else. In the past TV only started for the final hours (or less if you back further) so it’s a modern concern.

Today all teams all have their plans. Wildcard invitees like Uno-X, Lotto-Dstny and Israel all have house sprinters and want to back them so there’s no point going up the road, this was less the case in the past. This year Total Energies don’t have a house sprinter as much but they supply the other example, they are waiting for the right moment. Indeed this is the same for many other teams, just as we wouldn’t expect Visma, Ineos or Soudal-Quickstep to try a breakaway on the flat today because it would be a waste of energy, the same applies for, say, Cofidis, EF or Movistar who want to save themselves for other days.

When Axel Zingle followed Jonas Abrahamsen’s attack at the start of Stage 6 to Dijon he got roasted in public by his Cofidis manager Cedric Vasseur for “a spasm” and using up energy needed for Bryan Coquard’s leadout later, and for the coming days.

The Giro d’Italia has the Fuga prize (Italian for breakaway) where there is a classification for the riders who have spent the most kilometres up the road. A daily award and the photo opportunity is an incentive for lesser teams trying to get some limelight; the Tour though has the Combativity prize which can overlap. An extra prize in the Tour? Awkward because while the Giro has many prizes and awards, a confusing array even, the Tour likes its relative simplicity.

Finally if nothing happens there’s a benefit as riders can redouble their efforts the next day.

Conclusion
A stage without a breakaway makes for unusual viewing and with TV being so important to the event there’s probably going to be some reflection if the lack of breakaways become a trend. There are still wide gaps between the teams in terms of budget and ambitions but the lowest level has closed the gap and even invitee teams have plans to execute rather than energy to burn on doomed moves. And if there’s nothing to watch you can read about the trend of nothing to watch.

The post When Nobody Attacks first appeared on The Inner Ring.