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Stage 21: Sunday 23 July 2023; Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines – Paris Champs-Elysées (115km, flat). Altitude gain 598
Jordi Meeus won the final stage at the Champs Elysees
In the final stage of the Tour de France 2023, a surprise victory for the Belgian of Bora-Hansgrohe, who mocked the green jersey Philipsen. Third Groenewegen, then Pedersen.
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) won the 110th Tour de France, which started on 1 July from Bilbao and ended today with the traditional Parisian parade on the Champs Elysees. Vingegaard, who was born in Hillerslev in Jutland on 10 December 1996, at the same time as the first Scandinavian triumph at the Grande Boucle with Bjarne Riis, repeated his 2022 success. In three appearances at the Tour, the angler king collected a second place on his 2021 debut behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team. Emirates), followed by two recent triumphs. For his part, the Slovenian finished in the place of honour for the second year running, 5’14” behind the winner. If 12 months ago the Komenda champion could be blamed, this time he can only be praised for the courage he showed in presenting himself at the start, despite being short of preparation after the wrist fracture suffered at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on 23 April. In third place at 8’44”, taking his first podium place on French soil, was Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Pogacar’s team-mate. The final act of the race saw Belgian Jordi Meeus (Bora Hansgrohe) deny compatriot Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) his fifth partial victory with Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) taking third place. Best Italian today, as in the other sprints, was young Luca Mozzato from Vicenza (Arkea Samsic), who finished tenth. Full Results here
For two and a half weeks we witnessed a beautiful Tour de France, raced at an insane pace. In the long run, however, Pogacar’s sketchy preparation emerged with the scales tipped firmly in Vingegaard’s favour.
The usual procession into Paris with the grandstand finish on the Champs-Élysées. This will be missing next year, with the 2024 Tour concluding with an individual time trial in Nice as the French capital gets ready for the Olympic Games. Today stage will start at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, where the velodrome hosting track cycling at the 2024 Olympics is located, and will end with the iconic Champs-Elysées circuit ready for the expected final bunch sprint.
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The 2023 Tour de France, the 110th edition, Grand Depart will be staged in Bilbao, in the Basque Country in northern Spain. This is an area with a rich cycling tradition and with many passionate supporters.
This edition of cycling’s biggest race includes just a single 22km hilly time trial in the Alps and mountain stages in all five of France’s mountain ranges on the road between the Grand Départ in the Basque Country and the traditional finish in Paris: the Pyrenees, the Alps, Jura, Vosges and the Massif Central.
The 3,404km route includes eight flat stages, four hilly stages, eight mountain stages, with four summit finishes and a record-breaking 30 categorised climbs . Among these summit finishes, to be noted the return of the legendary Puy de Dôme in the Massif Central. The race kicks off on July 1 and finishes on July 23.
Time bonuses and points
In 2023, time bonuses will be awarded at the finish of each stage – 10, 6 and 4 seconds for the first three riders across the line. Bonus points will also be awarded on strategic mountain passes and summits. The first three riders across these will pick up bonuses of 8, 5 and 2 seconds. The mountain-top bonus points won’t count towards the points classification.
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Stage 1: Saturday 1 July; Bilbao – Bilbao (182km, hilly). Altitude gain 3221m
Yates & more Yates smash the Tour first stage
Explosive finale for the opening stage of the Grande Boucle in the Basque Country: Adam and Simon go away together, the former wins and turns yellow. Tadej Pogacar third and happy, Enric Mas already retired following a fall with Richard Carapaz.
The British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) won the first stage of the 110th Tour de France: 182 kilometers with start and finish in Bilbao. The 31-year-old from Bury preceded his twin Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) at the finish line, at the end of a 1,000-metre ramp, who finished four seconds behind. In third place was the Slovenian champion, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who gained four seconds of bonus. In the general classification, thanks to the bonuses, Adam’s advantage is eight seconds over his brother and 18” over his captain.
At the start, a breakaway made up of five riders immediately went away: the French Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché Circus Wanty), Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) and Simon Guglielmi (Arkea Samsic), the Dutch Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) and the Dane Jonas Gregaard (One X). Quickly the quintet gained two and a half minutes. After that, the platoon activated by recovering one minute and then keeping the fugitives at a safe distance. The attackers’ attempt ended 50 kilometers from the finish. The subsequent ascent of the Alto de Morga served to skim the peloton. The selection, carried out mainly by Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates continued on the following Alto de Vivero where the American Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost) passed first and thus went on to conquer the first polka dot jersey of this edition. After the descent, in the stretch before the Muro de Pike, the last roughness of the day, the first twist of the race took place. Enric Mas (Team Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) ended up on the ground. The Spaniard’s race ended in that instant while the Ecuadorian Olympic champion got back on his bike, however, reaching the finish line a quarter of an hour late.
It was again the Jumbo that set the pace on Pike’s very hard Wall. The pace, however, did not please Pogacar who unleashed his men by producing a fracture in the group. Only two were able to resist Tadej’s progression: the other diarch, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), and the surprising Frenchman Victor Lafay (Team Cofidis). The trio crossed the top with a handful of seconds on a quartet made up of the Yates twins in the company of the Danish Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek), fresh winner of the Tour of Switzerland, and the transalpine David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ). Realizing the presence of his teammate behind him, Pogacar slowed down thus favoring the return of the four. Then, aware of Vingegaard’s temporary isolation, he spurred Adam Yates to attack, who immediately obeyed. The twin Simon launched in pursuit and an unprecedented twin pair was created that flew towards the finish line. The late return of Wout Van Aert did not allow Jumbo-Visma to better organize the recovery attempt. Adam detached Simon on the final slope and went on to conquer the first yellow jersey of this Tour.
Tomorrow the second half will take place, on paper no less tough than today’s. The riders will cycle 209 kilometers from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. The imminent San Sebastian Classic, scheduled for next 29, will be repeated in various stages, including the ascent of Jaizkibel, on the summit of which six seconds of time bonus will also be awarded. At this point there will be 15 kilometers to go to the finish, equally divided between downhill and flat. Full results here
The Tour de France starts immediately with a very demanding stage that will require full attention from the General Classification favourites. Stage 1 will start and finish in Bilbao, with a double passage in the historical Basque Country capital, Guernika. This 182km ride stage is full of short, steep climbs that will rule out the pure sprinters in favour of the puncheurs. With very little flat ground to offer, the stage is nervous from the start and difficult to control, but it should be the last three GPMs, which are fairly close together and concentrated in the final 50km that will make the difference.
This stage will have 3200m of altitude gain and five climbs: the Côte de Laukiz, the Côte de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, the Côte de Morga, and the two toughest climbs of the day, the Côte de Vivero (4.2km at 7.3%, max 14%), located 27km from the finish, and he Pike (2km at 10%, max 20%), when there are only 9600 metres to go. The Pike has the last km at 12.6% with a max gradient of 20%. The descent is on a wide road where it is possible that some rejoining will occur. The stage victory will be awarded at the summit of a further 1km climb with an average gradient of around 5%. Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 3.75, VAN DER POEL M. 5.5, VAN AERT W. 6, ALAPHILIPPE J. 11, VINGEGAARD J. 11, PIDCOCK T. 16, SKJELMOSE M. 16.
Today’s weather forecast: Bilbao – departure: weak rain (0.2 mm), 22°C (perceived 23°C), moderate NW wind (20 – 46 Km/h), 72% humidity; Plentzia (Km 41.2): light rain (0.1 mm), 21°C, moderate NW wind (23 – 45 Km/h), 79% humidity; Gernika-Lumo (intermediate sprint – Km 88.2): weak rain (0.2 mm), 23°C (felt 24°C), moderate NW wind (19 – 47 Km/h), humidity 69%; Col de Morga (GPM – Km 140.9): light rain (0.1 mm), 22°C (felt 24°C), moderate NW wind (18 – 45 Km/h), 68% humidity; Bilbao – arrival: slightly cloudy, 23°C (felt 25°C), moderate NW wind (17 – 45 Km/h), humidity 62%.
Stage 2: Sunday 2 July; Vitoria-Gastiez – Saint Sebastien (209km, hilly). Altitude gain 2943m
Victor Lafay escapes the Jumbo-Visma pince and wins the second stage of the Tour de France.
Wout van Aert is second and curses. More skirmishes between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, interesting bonus seconds for the Slovenian; Adam Yates remains in yellow
The French Victor Lafay (Team Cofidis) won the second stage of the 110th Tour de France along the 209 kilometers on Basque land from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. The Lyonnais prevailed thanks to a peremptory sprint in the last kilometer that surprised the group of treaders. In second place, with the same time as the winner, the Flemish Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) preceded the Slovenian champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). Thanks to the bonuses up for grabs, there were small changes in the rankings on the last climb and at the finish line. The British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) remains in the yellow jersey with a six second advantage over his twin brother Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) and the Komenda champion, as well as his captain.
Before the start came the news of the withdrawal of the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost). The Olympic champion, who arrived at the end of the first fraction a quarter of an hour late, suffered a micro-fracture in his kneecap. He will try to recover for the Vuelta Espana starting on August 26th. After 15 kilometers of race, a breakaway formed by a decidedly interesting trio started: the French time trialist Rèmi Cavagna (Soudal Quick Step), the Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), already winner of three stages in the Tour, and the polka dot jersey, Neilson Powless (EF Education Easypost). Within 30 kilometers the attackers gained four and a half minutes on the group. Among them the most active was decidedly the American who, interested in accumulating points to strengthen his leadership in the classification of climbers, marking a high pass, led to the failure of Cavagna on the Alto de Alkiza, third of the five asperties of the day to the least 70 from arrival. Powless and Boasson Hagen continued their effort, albeit with a lead reduced to just two minutes. It was then the Norwegian’s turn to break away on the Alto de Gurutze, penultimate GPM on the route 40 kilometers from the finish.
Powless’s dream of scoring points for the climber’s classification was extinguished midway through the final ascent, Jaizkibel. On the iconic steep slope of the San Sebastian Classic, the native American was engulfed by the group to which UAE Team Emirates had imposed a frantic pace. Pogacar was first at the top, thus forfeiting the eight seconds of bonus, followed by his rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and by Simon Yates. The Slovenian continued his downhill attack, dragging the Dane behind him who, on the other hand, decided not to collaborate, thus favoring the reunion from behind. Thus a group of 24 runners was formed which, after having repulsed an attempt by the enfant du pays Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was preparing to compete for success in the sprint on the windy seafront. Lapay, however, had other ideas in this regard and put them into practice by mocking everyone with a decisive shot under the red triangle.
The French Victor Lafay (Team Cofidis) won the second stage of the 110th Tour de France along the 209 kilometers on Basque land from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. The Lyonnais prevailed thanks to a peremptory sprint in the last kilometer that surprised the group of treaders. In second place, with the same time as the winner, the Flemish Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) preceded the Slovenian champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). Thanks to the bonuses up for grabs, there were small changes in the rankings on the last climb and at the finish line. The British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) remains in the yellow jersey with a six second advantage over his twin brother Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) and the Komenda champion, as well as his captain.
Before the start came the news of the withdrawal of the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost). The Olympic champion, who arrived at the end of the first fraction a quarter of an hour late, suffered a micro-fracture in his kneecap. He will try to recover for the Vuelta Espana starting on August 26th. After 15 kilometers of race, a breakaway formed by a decidedly interesting trio started: the French time trialist Rèmi Cavagna (Soudal Quick Step), the Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), already winner of three stages in the Tour, and the polka dot jersey, Neilson Powless (EF Education Easypost). Within 30 kilometers the attackers gained four and a half minutes on the group. Among them the most active was decidedly the American who, interested in accumulating points to strengthen his leadership in the classification of climbers, marking a high pass, led to the failure of Cavagna on the Alto de Alkiza, third of the five asperties of the day to the least 70 from arrival. Powless and Boasson Hagen continued their effort, albeit with a lead reduced to just two minutes. It was then the Norwegian’s turn to break away on the Alto de Gurutze, penultimate GPM on the route 40 kilometers from the finish.
Powless’s dream of scoring points for the climber’s classification was extinguished midway through the final ascent, Jaizkibel. On the iconic steep slope of the San Sebastian Classic, the American was engulfed by the group to which UAE Team Emirates had imposed a frantic pace. Pogacar was first at the top, thus forfeiting the eight seconds of bonus, followed by his rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and by Simon Yates. The Slovenian continued his downhill attack, dragging the Dane behind him who, on the other hand, decided not to collaborate, thus favoring the reunion from behind. Thus a group of 24 runners was formed which, after having repulsed an attempt by the enfant du pays Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was preparing to compete for success in the sprint on the windy seafront. Lapay, however, had other ideas in this regard and put them into practice by mocking everyone with a decisive shot under the red triangle. Full Results here.
Tomorrow the race will return to France with the third stage of 187 kilometers from Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne. It would seem a fraction dedicated to sprinters despite the four small GPMs scattered in the first half of the route. There will probably be a sprint finish even if the sprinter teams will have to work hard to prevent a large breakaway from taking off at the start.
Stage 2 will feature some of the same roads of the San Sebastian Classic, from Vitoria-Gasteiz in 208.9 km and facing the Jaizkibel climb 26km from the finish. It’s a day for hilly Classics specialists and a restrict sprinter in San Sebastián is the most probable outcome. It’s already time for the longest stage of this Tour, and there will be little plain, however the many climbs scattered along the route are relatively isolated and not particularly demanding. In order the peloton will face the following cote: Udana, Aztiria, Larraitz (no classified but 4 km at 4.9%, first 2km at 6.4%), Altzo (no classified 2km at 7.3%), Alkiza (broken up by a short downhill section into two sections at 7% with short passages in double digits) and finally Gurutze. Their function will therefore be to tire the legs in view of the symbolic final ascent of Jaizkibel, tackled from the opposite side to that usually traveled by Klasikoa.
The climb is 8.1 km overall at 5.3%, but divided into two sections by a short downhill section: first you arrive at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in about 3.5 km at 5.2%, then you descend for a few hundred meters and take the hardest stretch of almost 4 km at 7.3% (max 11%). At the summit there will be only 16.5km to go, 8 of which will be quite technical descent. It should be noted that in the finale you pass another short uphill stretch (1 km at 4/5%) which ends 2500 meters from the finish. Bookmakers favourites: VAN AERT W. 3.5, VAN DER POEL M. 8, GIRMAY B. 16, PHILIPSEN J. 20, POGACAR T. 23, STRONG C. 23, WRIGHT F. 23, CORT NIELSEN M. 23.
Today’s weather forecast: Vitoria-Gasteiz: light rain (0.1 mm), 19°C, light N wind (8 – 19 Km/h), humidity at 74%; Legutio (Sprint – Km 40.6): light rain (0.2 mm), 19°C, light wind from N (12 – 27 Km/h), humidity at 82%; Côte d’Aztiria (GPM – Km 87.6) : light rain (0.3 mm), 20°C, light N wind (10 – 27 Km/h), humidity at 81%; Côte d’Alkiza (GPM – Km 140.9) : light rain (0.1 mm), 20°C, moderate wind from N (11 – 31 Km/h), humidity at 79%; San Sebastián: Scattered Clouds, 22°C (felt 23°C), Moderate N Wind (9 – 26km/h), Humidity 73%
Stage 3: Monday 3 July; Amorebieta-Etxano – Bayonne (193.5km, flat). Altitude gain 2600m
Alpecin sprinter Jasper Philipsen wins Tour de France stage three. In second place Bauhaus and third Ewan.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceunick) won the third stage of the 110th Tour de France which took riders from Amorebieta-Etxano in Spain to Bayonne in French territory along 194 kilometres. The Flemish, wonderfully piloted by his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, preceded, at the end of a bunch sprint, the German Philip Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and the Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny). The general classification remains unchanged with the British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) in the yellow jersey with an advantage of six seconds over his twin brother Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) and his captain Tadej Pogacar.
Not even the time to lower the checkered flag before the French Laurent Pichon (Arkéa Samsic) and the American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) went on the attack. For the latter, the mission was well defined: to fill up on points in the four GPMs placed in the first half of the course. The advantage of the two fugitives quickly reached three minutes, a margin on which it settled. The two proceeded in love and in agreement with the native American who passed first on all the GPMs leaving the Frenchman the intermediate sprint of Deba. Having overcome all the GPMs and forfeiting the points for the polka dot jersey, Powless greeted Pichon by getting up. The Frenchman, 80 kilometers from the finish line, continued alone with a two-minute lead.
The peloton slowly approached the fugitive who was caught up again at minus 37 from the arrival. At this point another race began at the frenetic pace of 55 kmh. The sprinters’ teams began to take up positions, clashing with those of the ranking men, eager to bring their respective captains beyond the minus 3,000 meters sign, the starting point of the neutralization. It was the Soudal QuickStep that took command of the operations to prepare the sprint of the European champion Fabio Jakobsen. Unfortunately, the splendid work of Yves Lampaert, last year’s first yellow jersey, was nullified by Kasper Asgreen who, 1,200 meters from the final banner, stretched too much the peloton. Van der Poel took full advantage of this situation of chaos and took the lead by launching Philipsen at 300 metres. Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) tried to pass his compatriot from the inside but was forced to give up due to the lack of space. There were, therefore, no problems for Philipsen to take his third career success in the Tour de France. Full results here
Tomorrow the fourth totally flat stage will take place on the 182 kilometers that will connect Dax to Nogaro. Not only is expected another bunch sprint but it is also highly unlikely that someone will try their luck by going on the breakaway. On the other hand, with the Pyrenees looming, conserving energy will be essential.
Today’s stage will depart in Spain and will reach the French side of the Basque Country connecting Amorebieta-Etxano and Bayonne, the region’s capital, in 193.5 km. The peloton arrives in France with a long and undulating stage, with presumably the first bunch sprint. Much of the stage hugs the coast, the last sight of the sea in this year’s race, and if the wind is up, the GC teams will be jostling for position at the front of the bunch in case echelons form, making difficult any break. There are four categorised climbs on the route, but the last of those comes with 90km to go. The GPMs are all still in Spanish territory and populate the first 100 km of the race, nothing to complicate with the last of these climbs, Orioko Benta, slightly more demanding, 5 km at 6.3%, of which the first 4km often at 7/8%. After a steep descent, you pass through San Sebastian again, where the gentler part of the route begins. The last 25 km the route is rather undulating again and there are at least 4 uphill sections in 20 km, plus another bump that ends just 1500 meters from the finish line. The overall favourites will also have to be careful and there could be a lot of tension. All these factors combined with over 190 km will ensure that the sprint itself brings out long-distance runners, also considering that the last 200 meters are themselves slightly uphill. Finally, it should be underlined that the roads in the finale are wide, but some semi-curves prevent you from seeing the finish line up to a very few meters from the end. Bookmakers favourites: J Philipsen 2, F Jakobsen 2,5, D Groenewegen 7, S Welsford 8, W Van Aert 8, M Pedersen 12, C Ewan 16, B Girmay 16, M Cavendish 18
Today’s weather forecast: Amorebieta-Etxano: overcast, 23°C (felt 25°C), moderate NE wind (7 – 21 Km/h), humidity 62%; Lekeitio (Km 40.1): scattered clouds, 21°C, light wind from NE (9 – 18 Km/h), humidity at 73%
Zarautz (Km 89.9): scattered clouds, 22°C (felt 24°C), moderate NW wind (10 – 23 Km/h), humidity 67%; Hendaye (Km 134): overcast, 22°C, moderate wind from N (11 – 23 Km/h), humidity at 71%; Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle (Km 162.4): partly cloudy, 23°C (felt 24°C), moderate wind from the N (11 – 29 Km/h), humidity at 69%; Bayonne: partly cloudy, 23°C (felt 24°C), moderate NW wind (11 – 27 Km/h), humidity 70%
Stage 4: Tuesday 4 July; Dax – Nogaro (182km, flat). Altitude gain 1434m
Van der Phoelipsen, mythological being half leadout and half sprinter
Jasper Philipsen wins the fourth stage of the Tour de France in the sprint on the Nogaro circuit thanks to an exceptional work by Mathieu van der Poel. Lots of crashes in the final, Ewan and Bauhaus still on the podium
The Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceunick) won the fourth stage of the 110th Tour de France along the 182 kilometers between Dax and Nogaro. In an almost identical repeat of what happened yesterday at the finish line in Bayonne, the Fleming preceded the same two opponents in reverse order. This time the second place went to the Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) ahead of the German Philip Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). Nothing has changed in the general standings with the British Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) still in the yellow jersey with a six second advantage over the duo formed by his twin brother Simon (Team Jayco AlUla) and his captain Tadej Pogacar.
It didn’t take a crystal ball to predict the soporific trend of today’s fraction of which the first half is spent in the name of nothing. The race was animated, only temporarily, by the intermediate bonus sprint of Notre-Dame des Cyclistes which awarded points for the points classification. The irrepressible Philipsen passed first, preceding the Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Team Cofidis) and the Danish Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek). In this way the Belgian snatched the green jersey from Victor Lafay (Team Cofidis), in vain defended by his teammate Coquard. The all-transalpine duo formed by Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroen) and Anthony Delaplace (Arkea Samsic) set off at the start of the sprint who, without ever reaching a one-minute lead, covered 50 kilometers in advance, being resumed under the banner of minus 25 upon arrival.
At this point we witnessed the usual tussle between the formations of the sprinters and those of the classification men, the former interested in gaining positions in view of the final sprint with the latter concerned with bringing their respective captains unscathed to the neutralization of the 3,000 meters. After this fateful threshold, coinciding with the entrance to the racetrack where the finish line was, we witnessed an anarchic phase in which no train was able to take over due to the very wide roadway combined with a series of bends 180° which imposed slowdowns at the head of the platoon. Then, at minus 500 metres, with an action identical to the previous day, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceunick) exploded all his power launching Philipsen towards an encore despite the late return of the stubborn Ewan, the only one who hadn’t raised White flag. Full results here.
Tomorrow should definitely change the music in the fifth stage, before the two Pyrenees, along the 163 kilometers from Pau to Laruns. After an initial flat stretch, the riders will tackle the long Col de Soudet, the first Hors Categorie of this year. The problem is that the summit is located 75 kilometers from the finish: it is unlikely that any big fish will take the initiative. The same goes for the following Col d’Ichère, a third category GPM also far from the finish line. If there is action, and I wouldn’t be too sure, we will see it on the last ascent of the day: the Col de Marie Blanque. From the top to the finish line there will then be 18 kilometers initially of descent followed by a slightly uphill stretch up to the final banner.
Another sprinter friendly stage with the start in Dax honours one of the peloton’s all-time great fast men, André Derrigade, who was born in nearby Narrosse. Now aged 94, he won 22 stages of the Tour de France, a record that stood until it was eclipsed by Mark Cavendish, who took his 23rd victory at the race on the Champs-Elysées in 2012 and is now seeking a 35th win that would put him ahead of Eddy Merckx. Most of the stage will be along the classic French countryside plain without any difficulties. The intermediate sprint bonus will take place at 83.8km outside the Notre Dame des Cyclistes church in Labastide-d’Armagnac.A t 27.4km the easy climb to the Côte de Dému (2.3km at 3.7%) is marked by the only GPM of the day. The compact group should arrive without particular problems in the town of Nogaro, where a handful of curves lead inside the racing circuit: in the racetrack you cover about 2300 meters, overcoming some curves (obviously racetrack curves) which are always complicated to interpret. The final straight is 750 meters long. Bookmakers favourites: J Philipsen 1, F Jakobsen 3, D Groenewegen 8, W Van Aert 8, P Bauhaus 14, C Ewan 14, S Welsford 16, M Cavendish 16, M Pedersen 18, B Girmay 22.
Today’s weather forecast: Dax : partly cloudy, 23°C (felt 24°C), moderate W wind (10 – 25 Km/h), humidity at 66%; Saint-Sever (Km 40.2): partly cloudy, 23°C (felt 24°C), light W wind (7 – 19 Km/h), humidity 67%; Notre-Dame des Cyclistes (bonus sprint – Km 93.6): partly cloudy, 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate W wind (9 – 25 Km/h), humidity at 58%; Courrensan (Km 132.2) : light rain (0.1 mm), 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate W wind (11 – 25 Km/h), humidity at 61%; Nogaro : partly cloudy, 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate W wind (11 – 25 Km/h), humidity 59%
Stage 5: Wednesday 5 July; Pau – Laruns (165km, mountain). Altitude gain 3659m
Hindley delivers a masterpiece and takes stage and yellow jersey
In the fifth stage of the Tour de France, Dane Vingegaard drops Pogacar in the stage
Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe) won the fifth stage of the 110th Tour de France, the first of two Pyrenean stages, which took the riders from Pau to Laruns over 163 kilometres. The winner of the Giro d’Italia 2022 took the victory with a solo 20 kilometres long, at the end of a long breakaway that was initially conducted in a large group, which gradually thinned out as it went on. In second place, 32 seconds behind, was the Italian Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek), who sprinted clear of the chasing group, which included Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen), German champion Emanuel Buchmann (Bora Hansgrohe) and a disruptive Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma). The Perth champion thus took the yellow jersey. He now boasts a 47-second margin in the general classification over the defending champion with Ciccone third at 1’03”. Hindley’s team-mate Buchmann is fourth at 1’11” ahead of former leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), fifth at 1’34”, with his captain Tadej Pogacar sixth at 1’40”.
The analysis of today’s stage revolves around the unexpected formation of a breakaway of 36 riders, including some potential aspirants for the podium, if not the overall success. This group, formed in the buzz before and after the intermediate bonus sprint at Lanne-en-Barétous at kilometre 49, tackled the opening climb of the day, the Col de Soudet, this year’s first Hors Categorie, with two and a half minutes on the peloton. At the summit Gall took the lead, ahead of the Colombian Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Ciccone. The best of rest of the peloton, led by the UAE, passed after four minutes. This status quo remained essentially unchanged after the climb to the second climb of the day, the Col d’Ichere, where Latvian Krists Neilands (Israel Premier Tech) took the lead by a handful of seconds over the other escapees.
At minus 30 from the finish, the dreaded Col de Marie Blanque, a first category GPM, began. At 5,000 metres from the summit it was Gall who broke away, dragging Hindley behind. Buchmann and Ciccone limited the damage while the day’s other attackers drifted clear. In the yellow jersey group, Jumbo replaced the UAE with American Sepp Kuss imposing a pace that only his captain, Vingegaard, and eternal rival Pogacar could resist. In the lead, with two kilometres to go, Hindley was leaving Gall in a bain-marie. Similarly, behind, the Dane did the same, getting rid of the uncomfortable company of the Slovenian. The Australian passed first at the GPM, also collecting the eight-second bonus. Vingegaard, fifth at the GPM at one minute, caught up first Buchmann and Ciccone on the descent and then Gall as well. Despite not receiving a single change, in the last 18 kilometres Jonas halved the gap to the outriders. The Komenda champion, who had been delayed in the final climb, was fumbling, although not totally adrift. Jai took all, stage plus jersey, standing as a real contender to the favourite duo. Pogacar was still in rough shape. The fate of his Tour will be decided tomorrow. Should he fall again, it will become almost impossible for him to compete for the overall victory. Full results here.
Tomorrow will see the second Pyrenean stage. It will be a short but certainly intense stage that will take the riders from Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque over 145 kilometres. Similar to today’s stage, the initial phase will be soft with, after 25 kilometres, the pedalable Cote de Capvern-les-Bains, a third category climb. The music will change radically at kilometre 55 when the climb to the dreaded Col d’Aspin, a first-category GPM, comes into view. There will be no respite at this point for the riders, who after the dive over Sainte Marie de Campan will tackle the iconic Pyrenean climb: the Tourmalet. Beyond that, after a long descent and 20 kilometres down the valley, the final 16 kilometres of ascent towards the finish in Cauterets-Cambasque will begin. After today’s hors d’oeuvre, an inventory of the damage will be taken tomorrow evening.
We are only on the first Wednesday and it is already time for the first Pyrenean stage, from Pau to Laruns in 162.7 km, almost mirroring that of 2020, with Soudet, Ichère and Marie Blanque. The start is in Pau which welcomes the race for the 74th time, more than anywhere else, other than Paris or Bordeaux. The first 70 km do not include GPM but in some sections the route is still a little undulating. A long valley floor leads to the foot of the hors-categorie Col de Soudet (15.2km at 7.2%), whom opens the second part of today race, is a demanding climb that offers multiple double-digit ramps (max 15%) in the last 10.5 km which climb in jerks (average 8.3%). The following descent is also treacherous, and about 30km of flat terrain is followed by 2 more climbs: The Col d’Ichère and the harder Col de Marie Blanque, a 1st Cat cote of 7.7km at 8.8%. Col d’Ichère is easy with 4.4 km at 6.4% but introduces to the Col de Marie Blanque.
The latest GPM of the day has the final 4 km with an average gradient of 11.5%, without ever offering respite and with its summit only 18.5km from the finish line. The descent, which alternates pedalable sections with other relatively technical ones, ends about 7 km from the finish line in Laruns, where the last stage winners have been Primož Roglič in 2018, and Tadej Pogačar in 2020. Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 3, VINGEGAARD J.9, VAN AERT W. 21, ALAPHILIPPE J. 23, BILBAO P. 23, PIDCOCK T. 23, POWLESS N. 26, LAFAY V. 26, GALL F. 31, TEUNS D. 31 .
Today’s weather forecast: Pau: partly cloudy, 23°C (felt 25°C), moderate NW wind (6 – 19 Km/h), humidity 61%; Lanne-en-Barétous (bonus sprint – Km 48.8): partly cloudy, 22°C (felt 24°C), moderate NW wind (3 – 20 Km/h), humidity at 63%; Col de Soudet (GPM – Km 87.5): light rain (0.1 mm), 14°C, moderate wind from N (8 – 27 Km/h), humidity at 81%; Laruns: light rain (0.4 mm), 22°C (felt 23°C), moderate N wind (8 – 35 Km/h), humidity 74%
Stage 6: Thursday 6 July; Tarbes – Cauterets-Cambasque (145km, mountain). Altitude gain 3922m
Divine Tadej, everything at stake in a magnificent Tour!
Pogacar won the sixth stage of the Grande Boucle, responding and countering a devastating Jumbo-Visma and distancing Vingegaard. The others at a sidereal distance, the French race a unique spectacle!
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) has won stage six of the 110th Tour de France, the brutally intense 145km Pyrenean stage from Tarbes to Cauterets-Cambasque. The Komenda champion, similar to a boxer who gets up after being knocked down and knocks out his opponent, has detached his antagonist Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) by 24″. The surprising Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (Uno X Pro Cycling Team) finished in third place at 1’22. The new general classification sees Vingegaard in the yellow jersey. The outgoing champion can boast a margin of 25″ over his Slovenian rival with the former leader of the standings, the Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe), who dropped to third position at 1’34 from the Dane. It is unlikely that the podium in Paris will not host these three riders considering that fourth in the standings Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) is already 3’14 behind the yellow jersey.
At the start, a breakaway was formed including riders of the highest lineage such as Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick Step) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers). Inexplicably, considering the absolute lack of ranking men among the fugitives, Bora Hansgrohe lined up in front of the group, not letting the attackers’ advantage expand, which never exceeded four minutes. In the meantime, Neilson Powless (EF Education Easy Post) passed first on the Col d’Aspin, thus regaining the polka dot jersey of the climbers taken yesterday by the Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen). The race changed radically halfway up the Tourmalet. While in front Van Aert skimmed off the treads, behind Vingegaard, thanks to the work of the indispensable Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma), launched his attach with Tadej Pogacar resisting him. The two diarchs, similar to motorcycles, outnumbered the dispersed attacking squad of the first hour. At the summit of this iconic climb of the Tour Johannessen was in the lead ahead of the Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro (Team Movistar). At the end of the long descent of the Tourmalet, with minus 25km to go, eight were in the lead: the Jumbo duo made up of Vingegaard and Van Aert, the EF duo made up of Powless and the British James Shaw, Guerreiro, Johannessen, Kwiatkowski and Pogacar .
At this point Van Aert took matters into his own hands and, for 20 kilometres, imposed a very hard pace both on the flat and at the start of the final climb. The Flemish gave everything to bring his captain under the banner of 5,000 meters at the finish line. Vingegaard, at this point, took the lead producing an attachthat was once again resisted by only Pogacar. Tadej looked different from the one he had gone into trouble yesterday. After a couple of unrealistic attempts by the Dane, at 2,500 meters it was the Slovenian who broke the hesitation, leaving his opponent in place and going on to conquer a success that was even more relevant for morale than for the time gap. In the short space of 24 hours the world turned upside down. Whether temporarily, or permanently, we will know on Sunday on the Puy de Dome. Full results here
Tomorrow the seventh stage will be staged from Mont de Marsan, the adopted town of Luis Ocana, winner of the 1973 Tour half a century ago, to reach Bordeaux after 170 kilometres, one of the most popular finish lines in the history of the yellow race.
The second consecutive day in the Pyrenees, sees the first summit finish of the race at Cauterets-Cambasque, not be the steepest, but still coming after the iconic Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aspin climbs. The first 55 km are the approach to the mountains, with the classic aperitif of the Côte de Capvern (5.6 km at 4.8%). Then it’s up in succession to the classic Col d’Aspin (12km at 6.5%, last 6km at 7.7%) and Col du Tourmalet (17.1km at 7.3%, last 13km at 8.6%), the summit of the latter coming with 47km to go. A long descent of 30km will bring riders to the final ascent.
The finish line will not be in the village as in 2015, but higher up at Le Cambasque, in all after 16 km at 5.4%: the first 11 km are the rather easy ones that lead to Cauterets, then the road steepens for almost 4 km (average gradient 9.2%) and flattens out at about 1700 metres from the finish line; the last 800 metres are again a noticeable climb (8/9%). Bookmakers favourites: VINGEGAARD J. 3, POGACAR T. 6, GALL F. 16, HINDLEY J. 21, SKJELMOSE M. 26, PINOT T. 26, WOODS M. 26, CICCONE G. 26, PIDCOCK T. 26.
Today’s weather forecast: Tarbes: scattered clouds, 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate wind from the E (12 – 30 Km/h), humidity 64%; Côte de Capvern-les-Bains (GPM – Km 29.9): scattered clouds, 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate E wind (11 – 31 Km/h), 65% humidity; Arreau – start of Col d’Aspin climb (Km 55.8) : light rain (0.6 mm), 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate NE wind (3 – 23 Km/h), humidity 61%; Col du Tourmalet (GPM – Km 97.9) : light rain (1.1 mm), 19°C, moderate SO wind (0 – 26 Km/h), 70% humidity; Cauterets (Cambasque) – centre of Cauterets (842 metres), from which the finish line is 7 km away (at an altitude of 1355 metres): weak rain (0.2 mm), 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate S wind (4 – 32 Km/h), humidity 64%.
Stage 7: Friday 7 July; Mont-de-Marsan – Bordeaux (170km, flat). Altitude gain 785m
Philipsen completes Tour hat-trick.
Philipsen took his third victory at the Tour de France by sprinting to victory on stage seven. He beat an excellent Cavendish and Girmay, fourth place for Luca Mozzato. Result under VAR analysis.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) sprinted to victory on the seventh stage of the 110th Tour de France, from Mont de Marsan to Bordeaux over 170 flat kilometres, a stage dedicated to Spanish rider Luis Ocana half a century after his triumphant victory in the 1973 Tour. The Flemish rider finished ahead of Manx’s Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan), who thus came close to achieving his 43rd victory in the Grande Boucle, the one that would have allowed him to overtake Eddy Merckx and become the all-time most successful rider in terms of stages in the history of the French race. In third place was the Eritrean Biniam Girmay (Intermarchè Circus Wanty), who took his first podium place in the Tour. The general classification remained unchanged with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) in the yellow jersey. The Dane can boast a 25″ margin over his institutional rival, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), with the winner of the Giro d’Italia 2022, Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe), third at 1’34”.
The race unravelled around the generous attempts of some brave riders to avoid the foregone conclusion at the sprint. The first to try was Frenchman Simon Guglielmi (Arkea Samsic), who sprinted after the start and even had seven minutes on the bunch. Just as Guglielmi was about to be caught at the flying sprint finish at Grignols, two compatriots joined the breakaway: Nans Peters (AG2R Citroen) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnegies). The action of the three, together with the relaxation of the peloton, brought the gap down to 1’15” with 60 kilometres to go. On the Cote de Begury, the only asperity of the day at minus 40 from the finish, Guglielmi lost contact. Peters and Latour insisted, although they were now in the group’s sights. With 25 kilometres to go, the two outriders still had a minute left, which was halved in the space of 10,000 metres. The two brave riders finally raised the white flag at five kilometres just before the neutralisation. Unlike on the two previous occasions, this time Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) made a mistake in the timing of the sprint and prematurely launched Philipsen. Jasper, who found himself in the open too early, was very good at slowing down, letting Cavendish pass, and then getting on Cannonball’s wheel and jumping him at the 50-metre mark. Full results here
Tomorrow’s eighth stage will take the riders from Libourne to Limoges along 201 kilometres. The presence of two fourth-category GPMs in the finale could preclude the traditional sprint finish. Above all, the epilogue will be conditioned by Van der Poel’s desire for victory. The Dutchman, who has already won this year’s Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, will do everything he can to honour the memory of his grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, a native of Limoges, by winning the stage.
The flattest stage of this year’s race heads north away from the Pyrenees to Bordeaux, which hosts the race for the 81st time. A breakway from the start is expected but the sprinters team will try not to waste one of the few occasion for the fast wheels. After the fireworks of previous two stages, it’s back to the flat tomorrow, with a stage which, that it starts at Mont-de-Marsan along 169.9km broken up by the only easy Côte de Béguey (1.2km at 4.4%), set 39km from the finish in Bordeaux. Even planimetrically, the sprint will be little hindered, with a slightly more treacherous section from -6 to -2 km. The last 1900 metres are all along the Garonne and are a single straight stretch that veers slightly to the right; the finish line comes into view with 400 metres to go. It will therefore be a very fast sprint for specialists, net however of the fatigue accumulated on the climbs of the last 48 hours. The Tour returns to Bordeaux for the first time in 13 years for what will probably be a bunch finish. Bookmakers favourites: PHILIPSEN J. 2, EWAN C. 5, JAKOBSEN F. 7, BAUHAUS P. 11, GROENEWEGEN D. 11, CAVENDISH M. 13, VAN AERT W. 16.
Weather forecast: watch out for the wind – the last 60 km will be mainly along the banks of the Garonne, where crosswind of up to 40 km/h is expected. Mont-de-Marsan: scattered clouds, 30°C (felt 31°C), moderate E wind (14 – 34 Km/h), 55% humidity; Losse (49.7 km) : scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 32°C), moderate E wind (16 – 39 Km/h), 48% humidity Grignols (bonus sprint – Km 88) : scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 32°C), moderate E wind (15 – 36 Km/h), humidity 49%. Côte de Béguey (GPM – Km 131) : scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 33°C), moderate SE wind (19 – 40 Km/h), humidity 47%; Bordeaux: scattered clouds, 32°C (perceived 33°C), moderate SE wind (15 – 36 Km/h), humidity 43%.
Stage 8: Saturday 8 July; Libourne – Limoges (201km, hilly). Altitude gain 1812m
Mads Pedersen outsprint Jasper Philipsen delivering first victory for Lidl-Trek at Tour de France
Sparkling finale in stage 8 with crashes by Simon Yates and Mark Cavendish forced to retire after crashing to the ground
Danish rider Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) sprinted to victory on stage eight of the 110th Tour de France, from Libourne to Limoges over 201 kilometres. The 2019 world champion from Harrogate, who had already won two months ago the stage of the Giro d’Italia that ended in Naples, preceded Belgians Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) at the end of a very long sprint on a slightly uphill straight. The general classification remained unchanged with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) in the yellow jersey. The Dane boasts a 25″ margin over his rival, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), with the winner of the Giro d’Italia 2022, Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe), third at 1’34”. Today was characterised by two episodes: the long breakaway of three riders Anthony Delaplace (Arkea Samsic), Tim Declerq (Soudal Quick Step) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnegies) and the abandonment of Briton Mark Cavendish. The trio went on the attack after some 20 kilometres, reaching a lead of four minutes at the end of the first hour of the race in which a frenetic average of 51.2 kilometres per hour was recorded. The margin of the outriders stabilised at this point with the situation remaining crystallised for 80 kilometres. What stirred things up was the fourth-category GPM of the Côte de Champs Romain, near which the peloton produced a violent acceleration that eroded a minute. At minus 65 from the finish, what no one ever wanted to happen took place. In a low-speed phase at the back of the peloton a domino-effect crash was generated. The worst of it was Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan). The Isle of Man champion immediately touched his left shoulder. After a few minutes, having realised that it was impossible to continue, he sadly climbed into the car, saying goodbye for the last time to the Tour de France and the dream of the all-time record for stage victories. Meanwhile, mainly under the action of Lidl, the lead trio’s advantage continued to dwindle slowly but surely. With 25 minutes to go the margin was down to 1’40”. With 15 kilometres to go, approaching the last GPM, the Côte de Masmont, Turgis set off alone. He was caught at the minus nine. This was followed by the now customary tussle with the teams of the classification men, eager to get their captains safely to the neutralisation point, jostling with the trains of those focused on the imminent sprint. Surprisingly, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck) decided not to contest the sprint, giving up his dream of winning in the city where his grandfather, Raymond Poulidor, was born. The Dutch champion therefore put himself at the service of Philipsen, in the hunt for a personal poker. However, the Flemish rider could do nothing against the peremptory sprint of Pedersen who, despite starting very long, held on until the end, thus taking his second career victory in the Tour de France. Full results here
Tomorrow will see the highly anticipated ninth stage from Saint Leonard de Noblat to the Puy de Dôme, the iconic summit of the Massif Central from which the Tour has been missing for 35 years. There will be 3,500 metres of altitude difference scattered along the 183 kilometres of the race. In the lands that were once the scene of fierce clashes between Caesar and Vercingetorix, it will most likely be a classic double race, with a small group of escapees trying to snatch victory from the big names, who will instead wait until the final climb to compete for important seconds in the final classification of the race.
A long stage, one of the only two exceed 200km this year, taking the peloton towards the Massif Central, from Libourne to Limoges in 200.7 km. It is an apparently simple stage, but in truth a very nervous one, especially in the last 50 km. Not that there are any particularly tough climbs, but in the finale there is no flat ground and there is a succession of short climbs; the last two, which are valid as GPMs, are very close to the finish: the Cote de Masmont (1.3km at 5.5%) ends 16km from the finish and the Cote de Condat-sur-Vienne (1.2km at 5.4%) is just 9km from the end. The finish is itself at the top of a ramp of around 800 metres at 4/5%, not exactly a pure sprinter’s finish. Bookmakers favourites: VAN AERT W. 4, PHILIPSEN J. 5, VAN DER POEL M. 7, GIRMAY B. 9, EWAN C. 10, PEDERSEN M. 16, COQUARD B. 21.
Weather forecast: Libourne: clear skies, 30°C (felt 32°C), moderate SO wind (13 – 34 Km/h), humidity 53%. Tocane-Saint-Apre (Bonus Sprint – Km 79) : scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 32°C), moderate SO wind (10 – 27 Km/h), humidity 49%. Côte de Champs-Romain (GPM – Km 130.4) : scattered clouds, 31°C, moderate SO wind (10 – 31 Km/h), humidity 47%. Limoges: scattered clouds, 30°C (felt 31°C), moderate SW wind (10 – 31 Km/h), humidity 48%.
Stage 9: Sunday 9 July; Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat – Puy de Dôme (184km, mountain). Altitude gain 3494m
Woods secures win at top of the Puy de Dôme as Pogacar closes gap on Vingegaard
The battle on the Puy de Dôme only heated up in the finale, Pogacar gains seconds to Vingegaard. Woods catches a brave Matteo Jorgenson, then fourth, in the final 400m.
The Canadian Michael Woods (Israel Premiertech) won the ninth stage of the 110th Tour de France along the 183 kilometres that took the riders from Saint Leonard de Noblat to the summit of the Puy de Dôme, the dormant volcano symbol of the Massif Central, from which the Tour had been missing for 35 years. At the end of a stage that included 3,500 metres of elevation gain, the 36-year-old former middle-distance runner from Toronto, who was plucked from cycling to athletics, was 28″ ahead of Frenchman Pierre Latour (TotalEnegies), with Slovenian Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) third at 36″ and American Matteo Jorgenson (Team Movistar), the day’s big star, fourth at 37″. The general classification underwent a few minor adjustments with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) managing to defend the yellow jersey despite being distanced by his antagonist Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). The Slovenian, gaining eight seconds, reduced the gap between the two archers to just 17. The winner of the Giro d’Italia 2022, Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe), whose delay increased to 2’40”, remains in third position.
As predicted yesterday, in the lands that were the scene of the fierce clashes recounted by Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico, we witnessed a disjointed race with a handful of 14 attackers, who set off immediately after the start, competing against each other and the others, starting with the favourites for overall success, who decided to limit the contest to the final 13 kilometres, those of the final ascent to the finish line. The fact is that this selective, if not downright reluctant, attitude of the front-runners led to the escapees accumulating a margin of a quarter of an hour. This was precisely the moment when, with 50 kilometres to go, Jorgenson set off solo among the leading men. The action of the Californian, who in the middle stages of the stage had also been stung by a bee, shattered the forward contingent. Organising the chase for the American was Mohoric, with Frenchman Mathieu Burgadeau (TotalEnegies) and Jorgenson’s compatriot Neilson Powless (EF Education Easy Post) in the polka-dot jersey. The latter began the final four-kilometre section, the one with an average gradient of 12%, with a lead of one minute over the first pursuers and over two minutes over Latour and Woods, objectively the best climber among the escapees. The Canadian distributed his forces as best he could, unleashing all his power in the last 4,000 metres. The unfortunate Matteo, who had run out of energy, was thus jumped at minus 400 metres not only by Woods but also by Latour and Mohoric. Among the bigs there was a replay of the last Pyrenean stage. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) made the selection for his captain. With 1,500 metres to go, the awaited attack of Pogacar was brutal and all but one gave up. The Slovenian put the yellow jersey Vingegaard in trouble, but he limited the damage. Full results here
Tomorrow is the first rest day. Tuesday, when the race resumes, the tenth stage is scheduled, all in the land of Auvergne. There will be 168 kilometres of continuous ups and downs from Vulcania to Issoire, where unforeseen developments could be seen.
The first week of the race ends with a stage in the Massif Centrale and from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, after 35 years (since 1988), the stage will end with one of the Tour’s most legendary climbs, the Puy de Dôme. The whole stage is undulated with 4 GPM and several uncategorised climbs. The battle from the start is certain and the prestigious arrival will motivate many important names.
The Puy de Dôme is 13.3km long with an avg gradient of 7.7%. The final 4.5km are the hardest at 12%. The first big loosers of the Tour will today be announced! Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 4, VINGEGAARD J.4, VAN AERT W. 21, HINDLEY J. 21, ALAPHILIPPE J. 22, CICCONE G. 22, BERNAL E. 23, BILBAO P. 23, PIDCOCK T. 23, GALL F. 25, SKJELMOSE M. 26, PINOT T. 26, WOODS M. 26, CICCONE G. 26, PIDCOCK T. 26.
Weather forecast: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat: light rain (0.1 mm), 28°C (felt 29°C), moderate SO wind (14 – 34 Km/h), humidity 57%; Lac de Vassivière (bonus sprint – Km 30.4) : clear skies, 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate SO wind (17 – 45 Km/h), humidity 52%; Côte de Felletin (GPM – Km 74.8) : clear skies, 28°C (felt 29°C), moderate SO wind (12 – 30 Km/h), humidity 51%; Côte de Pontaumur (GPM – Km 126.2) : scattered clouds, 29°C (felt 30°C), moderate SO wind (15 – 40 Km/h), 50% humidity; Clermont-Ferrand – start of final climb (Km 166.4) : scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 32°C), moderate SO wind (12 – 34 Km/h), 39% humidity; Puy de Dôme: clear skies, 21°C (felt 31°C), moderate SO wind (18 – 23 km/h), 65% humidity
Rest Day: Monday 10 July; Clermont-Ferrand
Stage 10: Tuesday 11 July; Vulcania – Issoire (167km, hilly). Altitude gain 3127m
Pello Bilbao wins and dedicate his victory to Gino Mäder
After a fiery start, with Pogacar and Vingegaard on the attack and Gaudu and Bardet suffering, Pello got into the right breakaway and took victory in Issoire and fifth place in the classification
Spaniard Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) won the tenth stage of the 110th Tour de France, an all-out race on Auvergne soil along the 168 kilometres of continuous ups and downs from Vulcania to Issoire. The Basque rider, whose inclusion in today’s breakaway also moved him up to fifth place in the general classification 4:34 behind the yellow jersey, sprinted ahead of German Georg Zimmerman (Intermarchè Circus Wanty) and Australian Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen). The general classification remained unchanged in the three top positions with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) keeping the yellow jersey with a 17″ gap over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). In third position is confirmed the winner of the Giro d’Italia 2022, the Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe), at 2’40″. Today’s stage was characterised by a series of attempts, which meant that only with 20 kilometres to go, when Alpecin Deceuninck gave up the chase, did the situation become clear. Outnumbered by an original group of 14, six came in to play for the sprint success: Bilbao, Colombian Esteban Chaves (EF Education Easy Post), O’Connor, Latvian Krists Neilands (Israel Premiertech), Spaniard Antonio Pedrero (Team Movistar) and Zimmerman. O’Connor started under the red triangle chased by the German. Zimmerman, in turn, was swallowed up by Bilbao, who crossed the finish line with his eyes turned to the sky, an obvious dedication to his team-mate Gino Mader, who died tragically on 16 June in the Albula descent during the Tour of Switzerland. Full results here
Tomorrow the eleventh stage is scheduled. It starts in Clermont-Ferrand, capital of the Auvergne region and home to the Michelin factory, and arrives after 180 kilometres without difficulty in Moulins. For the sprinters this will be one of the last opportunities to play for the day’s success.
Racing resumes after the rest day and stage 10 looks like prime territory for breakaway specialists. The peloton will leave from the volcano-themed Vulcania amusement park, and the first of the 5 classified GPM of the day will start. There are 3,100 metres of climbing today with the last GPM with 28.6km still to go. Attacks from the break look likely on the final climb, the CAT3 Côte de la Chapelle-Marcousse, with a select group fighting it out for the win in Issoire.
Weather forecast: Vulcania: light rain (0.1 mm), 32°C (felt 34°C), moderate S wind (6 – 22 Km/h), humidity 46%; Le Mont-Dore (bonus sprint – Km 59.9) : thunderstorm (0.3 mm), 29°C (felt 30°C), strong SO wind (18 – 55 Km/h), humidity 53%; Saint-Alyre-ès-Montagne (km 117.7): thunderstorm (0.8 mm), 29°C (felt 30°C), strong SO wind (18 – 53 Km/h), humidity 53%;
Issoire: light rain (0.2 mm), 28°C (felt 29°C), moderate NE wind (13 – 49 Km/h), humidity 59%.
Stage 11: Wednesday 12 July; Clermont-Ferrand – Moulins (180km, flat). Altitude gain 1854m
Jasper completes the poker
Philipsen wins for the fourth time in the sprint in Moulins, even without Van der Poel: Groenewegen and Bauhaus beaten. Quiet day for the peloton.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceunick) won the eleventh stage of the 110th Tour de France, which took the riders from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins over 180 kilometres without difficulty. The Flemish sprinter thus took his fourth partial victory in this edition of the Grande Boucle, definitively securing the green jersey in the points classification where he now, at 323 points, can boast a 145-length advantage over Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), his closest rival in the rankings. In the place of honour was Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), who finished ahead of German Philip Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious). The general classification remained unchanged with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) still in the yellow jersey with a lead of 17″ over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and 2’40” over Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe). With a flurry of demanding stages approaching it was to be expected that a narrow-gauge stage would be staged today. At the start a trio formed by Costa Rican Andrey Amador (EF Education EasyPost), Frenchman Matis Louvel (Arkéa Samsic) and Trentino Daniel Oss (TotalEnergies) took off. Following what seems to be the custom in this year’s race, the trio quickly gained three minutes, alerting the peloton, which at this point went into distance maintenance mode. This balance continued for more than 100 kilometres. Then the sprinters’ teams took the lead, drastically reducing the trio’s advantage. With minus 52 minutes to go Louvel came back up, followed by Amador a few minutes later. Oss, on the other hand, continued undaunted on his own, managing to stay ahead until 13 kilometres from the finish when he was swallowed up by the peloton. After the inevitable chaotic phase prior to the neutralisation at 3,000 metres to go, now made even more difficult by the wet road, Alpecin, but not Van der Poel, took matters into their own hands by setting the plate for Philipsen’s fourth victory. Full Results here
Tomorrow will be the turn of stage 12. It will be a decidedly rough 169 kilometres that will take the riders from Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais. Along the route there will be no less than five GPMs. The first three will be in the third category while the last two will be in the second. This looks like a classic breakaway stage that will most likely give us a winner with an illustrious name.
180km from Clermont-Ferrant to Moulins, with the first 120km hilly and ideal for the braves. Halfway it goes through Montluçon, home town of two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe. The sprinters have the opportunity, offered by the flat terrain of the second half of the stage, to look for a bunch finish.
Weather forecast: Clermont-Ferrand: cloudy, 23°C (felt 25°C), light NE wind (3 – 19 Km/h), humidity 64%; Côte du Mercurol (GPM – Km 49.5): cloudy, 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate NW wind (8-24 Km/h), 50% humidity; Montluçon (Km 96.6) : cloudy, 26°C, moderate westerly wind (12-27 Km/h), humidity 48%; Cosne-d’Allier (Km 135.2): cloudy, 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate westerly wind (24-31 Km/h), 60% humidity; Moulins: cloudy, 25°C (perceived 26°C), moderate NW wind (13-31 Km/h), humidity 58%.
Stage 12: Thursday 13 July; Roanne – Belleville-en-Beaujolais (169km, hilly). Altitude gain 3088m
Izagirre, seven years later
Skirmishes in the first eighty kilometres of the twelfth stage of the Tour de France 2023 before the breakaway started. Many hit it, but in the end it was Ion Izagirre who prevailed over Burgaudeau and Jorgenson
Spaniard Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) won by a breakaway on stage 12 of the 110th Tour de France along 169 kilometres of ups and downs that took the riders from Roanne to Belleville-en-Beaujolais. The 34-year-old Basque, already a member of the small circle of those who have won a stage in all three Grand Tours, thus took his second victory at the Grande Boucle after his 2016 win in Morzine. Behind the winner, distanced by 58 seconds, was Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotaEnergies), who finished ahead of the always positive American Matteo Jorgenson (Team Movistar). The general classification remained unchanged with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) in the yellow jersey with a margin of 17″ over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and 2’40” over Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe). Today’s stage was the last relatively demanding one before five tough days which will be interspersed with the second rest scheduled for Monday 17 July. Despite this, there was a scintillating start, at such a high tempo that a breakaway could not form. At the halfway point, the green light finally arrived. A small peloton was thus formed with the following 14 riders: Frenchmen Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ), Mathieu Burgaudeau, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Belgians Tiesj Benoot (Jumbo Visma), Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier Tech), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl Trek), Costa Rican Andrey Amador (EF Education EasyPost), Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek), Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck), Spaniard Ion Izagirre, Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar Team), Norwegian Tobias Halland Johannessen (UnoX Pro Cycling Team) and American Matteo Jorgenson. The attackers quickly gained a couple of minutes on the front group.
With 50 kilometres to go, Van der Poel set off, first bringing up the rear with Amador and then, having got rid of the American centre, solo. However, Raymond Poulidor’s nephew was caught on the final climb of the day: the Col de la Croix Rosier, at minus 35 from the finish. Halfway up, the winner of Sanremo and Roubaix was caught by Jorgenson and Pinot, who were then joined by Martin, Benoot, Burgaudeau, Johannessen and Izagirre. It was the latter, after having rested for a kilometre, who set off peremptorily, saying goodbye to his former companions. They, partly because of the disturbing action of Martin, the Basque’s team-mate, were unable to agree on a reaction that would bring the Basque back within striking distance. Izaguirre won in a bunch sprint, giving Cofidis its second victory of the day after Victor Lafay’s in San Sebastian. Full Results here
Tomorrow, Friday 14 July, will see the thirteenth stage, a short yet brutal stage that will take the riders from Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to the summit of the Grand Colombier on the Jura. After 75 completely flat kilometres, it will start slowly climbing towards the flying finish at Hauteville-Lompnes. This will be followed by a short descent to Culoz where the ascent to the finish line will begin: 17.4 kilometres at 7% average gradient. The table is set for yet another challenge between the diarchs of this Tour de France.
Another mid-mountain stage with 3,000 metres of elevation gain, and it is likely another opportunity for the day’s breakaway; if the climbs are a little more demanding than the Issoire stage and in quick succession, they are quite a long way from the finish. The stage has very little flat and starts out practically uphill, with a very demanding first 70km; this is followed by around 30km of easier, but still undulating and nervous, climbs before the stage’s three key climbs, basically arranged in order from easiest to most complicated and all three with rather tricky descents. The Col de la Croix Rosier is a real climb, which in the first 3.5km (average 8.1%) also offers some double-digit sections, but the 28.8km to go to the finish is not a few. It must be said that the descent even in the most pedalable sections remains treacherous and is immediately followed by the climb to Brouilly (almost 2 km at 5%). Only the last 8 km are truly linear.
Weather forecast: Roanne: scattered clouds, 24°C (felt 25°C), moderate N wind (9 – 25 Km/h), humidity 42%; Col des Écorbans (GPM – Km 37.9): clear skies, 22°C, moderate NW wind (11-29 Km/h), humidity 46%; Régnié-Durette (Bonus sprint – Km 93.3) : clear skies, 26°C, moderate NW wind (10-27 Km/h), 35% humidity; Vaux-en-Beaujolais (Km 132.2) : clear skies, 26°C, moderate NW wind (11-27 Km/h), humidity 36%; Belleville-en-Beaujolais: clear skies, 27°C (perceived 26°C), moderate NW wind (11-28 Km/h), humidity 30%.
Stage 13: Friday 14 July; Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne – Grand Colombier (138km, mountain). Altitude gain 2413m
On the Colombier the only true hawk is Kwiatkowski
The Pole finished solo in the 13th stage of the Tour de France after pulling away from his breakaway companions. Behind Van Gils, who was second, Pogacar distanced Vingegaard and gained eight seconds.
Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) won the 13th stage of the 110th Tour de France by a distance of just 138 kilometres from Châtillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier on the Jura. The 2014 Ponferrada world champion was 47 seconds ahead of Flemish rider Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) at the end of a long climb of over 17 kilometres on the Jura massif, with Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in third at 50 seconds ahead of Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) in fourth at 54 seconds. The margin in the ranking between the Grande Boucle archers has narrowed further. There are now only nine seconds separating the angler king from Komenda’s star rider, while Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe) consolidated his third place, 2’51 from the top but almost two minutes ahead of fourth place, Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), 4’48 seconds behind. Such a short stage was bound to be explosive, with the first two hours covered at an average speed of 46km/h. At the start of the final climb, there were 17 riders: Kwiatkowski, Frenchman Quentin Pacher (Groupama FDJ), Italians Alberto Bettiol (EF Education EasyPost) and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa Samsic), Britons Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and James Shaw (EF Education EasyPost), and Danes Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick Step) and Anthon Charmig (Uno X Pro Cycling Team), Belgians Jasper Stuyven (Lidl Trek) and Van Gils, Colombian Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Slovenian Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Dutchmen Mike Teunissen and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), German Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché Circus Wanty), Portuguese Nelson Oliveira (Team Movistar) and Canadian Hugo Houle (Israel Premier Tech). As soon as the road began to steepen, the peloton dissolved, shattered by the vehement pace set by Bettiol.At the first slowdown of the winner of the 2019 Tour of Flanders, Pacher took off and saw the chance of a lifetime: to win on the day of the French national holiday.The transalpine’s advance lasted five kilometres.At this point Tejada, Shaw and Van Gils pounced on him, catching up and overtaking him in one fell swoop at minus 12 from the finish.The trio’s advance was, however, short-lived. Within the space of a few metres the three suffered the same fate they inflicted on Pacher. It was Kwiatkowski who was the author of this final and decisive reversal. With a lead of almost four minutes over the top group, the winner of the Milano-Sanremo 2017 sprinted to victory. Behind the UAE set a not impossible pace which led to a very slow bleeding of riders from the front group. It was only when Adam Yates took the lead, with 2,500 metres to go, that the race got moving.Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) out-sprinted the Englishman, followed closely by the diarchs.Pogacar started under the red triangle in the last kilometre.Vingegaard at first followed him, then lost about ten metres.The Komenda champion managed to grab the four-second bonus, due to the third classified, doubling the gain with a similar effective gap: a four plus four reminiscent of a famous chorus that raged in Italy in the sixties. The fact is that Vingegaard built his entire advantage on a single attack, the one on stage five in which he inflicted 1’04” on his rival. The Slovenian, despite distancing the Dane on four occasions, is still behind him in the classification. Today, in order to gain the pittance of eight seconds, he has squeezed the team to no small extent. Full Results here
Tomorrow’s stage, the fourteenth, should help us to better decipher the situation. They will ride 152 kilometres, with 4,200 metres of altitude gain, from Annemasse to Morzine les Portes du Soleil. Along the route the riders will find no less than five GPMs.The short Col de Saxel, third category, will act as a starter.There will then be a triptych of first categories, spread over 70 kilometres: the Col de Cou, Col de Feu and Col de la Ramaz.At the top of this asperity there will be 50 kilometres to go.A long descent will bring the race to the foot of the last climb of the day, the Col de Joux Plane. From the summit, there will then be 12 kilometres downhill to the final finish.
Bastille Day marks the entry into the Alps on stage 13. This is the first of three consecutive mountain stages that could prove decisive of the GC. The Bastille Day falls on stage 13. On the day of the ‘Fête Nationale’, the French riders will search for glory, and they will try to break away during the long and flat first part of the stage. After the intermediate sprint in Hauteville-Lompnes, at the end of a long uncategorised climb, the following descent will lead to 10km of flat terrain before the final ascent, the Grand Colombier.
The Grand Colombier is a 17.4km long climb at 7.1% with several peaks at 12% per cent. Long and irregular, the Grand Colombier, one of the toughest summit finish of the race, could prove to be indigestible to some of contenders for the yellow jersey. Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 2.5,VINGEGAARD J. 5, WOODS M. 15, GALL F. 15, CICCONE G. 25, PINOT T. 25, MADOUAS V. 25, YATES S. 31, RODRIGUEZ C. 31, PIDCOCK T. 31, HINDEY J. 31
Weather forecast: Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne: scattered clouds, 29°C (felt 28°C), moderate S winds (12 – 30 Km/h), humidity 28%; Saint-Maurice-de-Rémens (Km 48.9): scattered clouds, 31°C (felt 29°C), moderate S wind (13 – 31 Km/h), humidity 28%; Hauteville-Lompnes (bonus sprint – Km 87.3): clear skies, 29°C (felt 28°C), moderate SO wind (16 – 40 Km/h), 33% humidity; Culoz (start of final climb – 119.5km) : clear skies, 31°C (felt 30°C), moderate S wind (11 – 35km/h), 35% humidity; Grand Colombier: forecast not available.
Stage 14: Saturday 15 July; Annemasse – Morzine les Portes du Soleil (152km, mountain). Altitude gain 4281m
Jonas-Tadej, the bonus challenge resembles a splendid 0-0
On the day when yet another chapter in the most gripping rivalry in recent Tour de France history unfolds, Rodríguez wins stage 14 by taking advantage of the deadlock between the two and taking the virtual podium
The Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) won the fourteenth stage of the 152-kilometre-long 110th Tour de France, packed with 4,200 metres of elevation gain, from Annemasse to Morzine les Portes du Soleil. The 22-year-old Andalusian rider made the most of the rivalry between the arch-rivals of the Grande Boucle, which he anticipated by five seconds at the finish. When all was said and done, this spectacular stage resulted in a minimal change in the general classification, with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) gaining a second over his rival, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who is now 10 seconds back in the standings, thanks to bonus points on the final climb and at the finish. Third place went to the winner of the day, now 4’43” away from the top of the classification, with Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe) fourth at just one second and Briton Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) fifth at 5’20”. A stage that was already explosive on paper had a decidedly troubled start with a maxi crash at the start causing the race to be neutralised, forcing several riders involved in the tumble to retire including Spaniard Antonio Pedrero (Team Movistar), Colombian Esteban Chaves (EF Education EasyPost), South African Louis Meintjes (Intermarché Circus Wanty), Briton James Shaw (EF Education Easypost) and, above all, Frenchman Romain Bardet (Team DSM), who was 12th in the general classification. Jumbo and UAE made it clear that the space for breakaways would be extremely limited. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) stood out in this context of freedom of movement, taking first place on two of the three first-category GPMs, the Col de Coue and Col de Feu, and making up ground in the classification for the polka-dot jersey by moving up to second place with 42 points behind the US rider Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost), who led the race on 54 points. The Abruzzese rider then also attempted to conquer the Col de la Ramaz, the summit of which was 50 kilometres from the finish. The hour in the air, however, was over with Jumbo Visma taking the lead. On this asperity, however, it was not the climb but the descent that made selection, thanks to the pace set by the yellow-black train, in particular by Belgian Wout Van Aert. At minus 25 from the finish the last asperity of the day began: the Col de Joux Plane. At the start of the climb, the roles were reversed with Poland’s Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) taking the lead and setting the pace. After a moment of bewilderment, the Vesponians regained control with the inexhaustible Van Aert who then gave way to the American Sepp Kuss. Adam Yates’ move into the lead four kilometres from the GPM signalled the start of hostilities. Pogacar sprinted but Vingegaard did not collapse, remaining a few seconds behind for two kilometres before coming back. The Slovenian then made an impromptu move, which allowed Rodriguez, originally two minutes back, to close in. Pogacar attempted a new sprint 500 metres from the GPM but was thwarted by the organisation’s bikes. Vingegaard was able to take advantage of this incident and went on to take the bonus at the summit, gaining three precious seconds on his rival. A new phase of control between the diarchs allowed Rodriguez and Yates to rejoin, with the Spaniard shooting straight for the finish. Pogacar tried in vain to close the gap but in the end had to be content with the place of honour and the consequent recovery on his rival of two of the three seconds lost at the summit of the Col de Joux Plane. Full Results here
Tomorrow hostilities will continue in the fifteenth stage from Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, a 179-kilometre-long stage that will give no respite. After a not overly demanding start, the riders will tackle the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, a first-category GPM, after 75 kilometres. This first ascent will be followed in quick succession by the Col de la Croix Fry and the Col de Aravis. The affordable Cote de Amerands will be the prelude to the climb that will lead to the finish. It will be another day of sabre rattling, which will not necessarily lead to tangible results.
A short but tough stage in the mountains on the French soil south of Lake Geneva. With five categorised climbs, today stage has an altitude gain of 4,100 metres.
Those climbs get progressively harder as the stage unfolds, with some steep ramps on the Col de la Ramaz potentially seeing a thinning-out of the GC group ahead of the Hors-Categorie Col du Joux Plane, 11.6km at 8.5%.
The brutally steep Col du Joux Plane is the last of today’s four big summits, and is tough enough that the 12.5km fast descent from the summit to the finish line in Morzine Les Portes Du Soleil, will not change the Col du Joux Plane sentences.
Weather forecast – Annemasse: scattered clouds, 31°C, moderate W wind (11 – 29 Km/h), 34% humidity; Orcier (Km 46.1): clear skies, 29°C (felt 30°C), moderate W wind (7 – 28 Km/h), 47% humidity; Mieussy (start of ascent Col de la Ramaz – Km 86.5): thunderstorm (0.3 mm), 31°C, moderate SO wind (9 – 44 Km/h), humidity 41%; Samoëns (start of ascent Col de Joux Plane – Km 127.1): scattered clouds, 30°C, strong SO wind (12 – 61 Km/h), humidity 43%; Morzine: thunderstorm (0.4 mm), 28°C, strong SO wind (14 – 60 Km/h), humidity 49%.
Stage 15: Sunday 16 July; Les Gets les Portes du Soleil – Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc Le Bettex (179km, mountain). Altitude gain 4527m
Wout beats Wout but Tadej doesn’t beat Jonas
Fifteenth stage of the Tour de France: Poels overtakes Van Aert after a long breakaway and wins the stage. Pogacar attacks Vingegaard in the last kilometre but does not gain a second
Dutchman Wouter Poels (Bahrain Victorious) won the 15th stage of the 110th Tour de France from Les Gets Les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, a 179-kilometre alpine ride. The winner of the 2016 Liège-Bastogne-Liège was ahead of Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) on the uphill finish line, who finished 2’08” off the pace, with Frenchman Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies) taking third at 3’00”. The general classification remained unchanged in terms of the top two positions with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) holding a 10-second advantage over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). Spaniard Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) maintained third place at 5’21” from the yellow jersey, followed by Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), fourth at 5’40”, while Australian Jai Hindley (Bora Hansgrohe) dropped to fifth at 6’38”. Unlike yesterday, the diarchs decided to disregard today’s stage, giving way to a maxi breakaway of no less than 37 riders. Among them was Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) from Abruzzo who, taking advantage of the negative day of the American Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost), joined him in the climbers’ classification, snatching the polka-dot jersey for the highest number of first category GPM conquered. The race was decided on the Col de Aravis with 50 kilometres to go. The Spaniard Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) took off and was then joined by Poels and Van Aert. The trio quickly gained ground on what remained of the original group of outriders. With less than 12 minutes to go, on the short but fierce Cote de Amerands, the Dutchman sprinted undisturbed to victory. On the same climb, the big manoeuvres between the classification men began. The UAE with Poland’s Rafal Majka and Austria’s Felix Großschartner gave an acceleration that thinned out the leaders’ peloton. It was then the turn of Adam Yates to give the final acceleration, Vingegaard, despite having lost his trusty Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) early on, did not give an inch to Pogacar, even giving the impression that he could be the one to sprint. In the end, despite two not entirely convincing attempts by the Slovenian, the stalemate situation persisted. Full results here
Tomorrow is the second rest day before the 16th stage, the only time trial in this edition of the Grande Boucle. There will be 22 kilometres against the clock from Passy to Combloux. The last five uphill will include the Cote de Domancy, made famous by Bernard Hinault for his magnificent solo ride in the 1980 World Championships that ended in Sallanches. There will certainly not be any significant gaps, although it must be considered that this is a Tour whose fate will probably be decided by a handful of seconds.
The second week comes to a close with the the longest of the Alpine stages, without any flat terrain, except in the first 30km. After that there is little flat terrain and many climbs in quick succession (almost 4500 metres in total). A transfer descends from Les Gets and the official start is given at the foot of the almost 3 km climb at 4% to Châtillon-sur-Cluses. After the descent, the only flat section of the entire stage (just over 20km) is tackled, leading to the foot of the Col des Fleuries, an unclassified climb of around 10km at 4.5%, followed by the climbs at Aviernoz (around 3.5km at 4.5%) and Annecy-les-Vieux (1.3km at 6%). Some fifteen fairly easy kilometres lead to the foot of the first GPM, the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, a total of 7.2 km at 7.3%, but fairly easy until the last 3.7 km (average just under 10%). There follows a steep and treacherous descent and a handful of kilometres on the valley floor before climbing up to the Col du Marais in two sections (4km at 5.5% and 3.5km at 3.5%); then another descent leads breathlessly to the watershed of this stage, the tough climb to the Col de la Croix Fry, 11.3km at 7% with a 2.5km section at 9.5% which ends about 4km from the GPM; another short descent and another climb to the Col des Aravis (4.4km at 5.8%).
From here there are around 45km to the finish, with a descent broken up by the false-flat of around 12km between Flumet and Megève. If nothing happens, everything is postponed until the final climb to Les Bettex, split between the soaring Côte des Amerands (2.7km at 10.9% max 17%). The final ascent to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc is 7km long at 7.7% and at the end of a stage, featuring several tough ascents, will prove to be extremely selective. Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 2.5, VINGEGAARD J. 5, RODRIGUEZ C. 14, YATES A. 15, WOODS M. 15, GALL F. 15, , HINDEY J. 25, CICCONE G. 25, PINOT T. 25, YATES S. 31, PIDCOCK T. 31.
Weather forecast: Les Gets: light rain (0.1 mm), 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate SO wind (9 – 39 Km/h), humidity 34%; Thorens-Glières (Km 45.4): clear skies, 27°C, moderate W wind (8 – 28 Km/h), humidity 52%; Col de la Forclaz de Montmin (GPM – Km 82.8): clear skies, 26°C (perceived 27°C), moderate NW wind (5 – 26 Km/h), 62% humidity; La Clusaz (km 128.8): clear skies, 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate SO wind (8 – 41 Km/h), humidity 62%; Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc*: weak rain (0.1 mm), 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate W wind (6 – 40 Km/h), humidity 59% – *forecast for the centre of Saint-Gervais (826 metres), from which the finish is 8 km away (finish line at 1372 metres).
Rest Day: Monday 17 July; Saint-Gervais – Mont Blanc
Stage 16: Tuesday 18 July; Passy – Combloux (22km, individual time trial). Altitude gain 638m
Vingegaard’s Apotheosis
Jonas won the individual time trial of the Tour de France by handing out heavy gaps to everyone, starting with Tadej himself and Van Aert, second (at 1’38”!) and third (at 2’51”!)
Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) won the sixteenth stage of the 110th Tour de France, the only time trial of this edition of the Grande Boucle, along the 22 kilometres from Passy to Combloux. The yellow jersey, with a stratospheric performance, completed the course in 32’36” at an incredible average speed of 41.227 km/h. In the place of honour, a good 1’38” behind, was Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) with the winner’s companion, Flemish Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma), third at 2’51”. The general classification is taking shape in a decidedly more defined manner in which Vingegaard can now boast a margin of 1’48” over Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) with Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) moving up to third place at the sidereal distance of 8’52”. Today’s stage traced in the final part the route of the 1980 Sallanches World Championships, made unforgettable by Bernard Hinault, who precisely on the Cote de Domancy, the last 5,000 metres of today’s stage, was able to build his triumph by breaking away from G.B. Baronchelli at the last of the 20 foreseen passages. This fact was well taken into account by Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek), who concentrated all his energy on the final part of the course, valid as a second-category GPM, obtaining the second time behind the winner and thus strengthening his polka-dot jersey. It was thought that today’s fraction might tip the scales slightly in favour of one of the two diarchs. Instead, surprisingly, there was no history. Vingegaard dominated it from start to finish, inflicting on his adversary to the tune of four and a half seconds per kilometre. The Slovenian, for his part, has little to reproach himself for considering the gap he inflicted on a specialist such as Van Aert, who was considered the favourite for the day’s victory on the eve of the race. Full Results here
Tomorrow the 17th stage will be staged. The race will greet the Alps with the toughest stage of this edition. There will be 5400 metres of altitude difference, spread over four tough climbs, along the 166 kilometres from Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel. At the start the riders will encounter the Col des Saisies, which will then be followed by the Cormet de Roselens and the Côte de Longefoy. All this will be a prelude to the final climb, the one that will most likely seal the fate of this Tour de France. At 2,304 metres in altitude, the Col de la Loze will not only be the toughest climb, but also the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the highest peak, this year. A long climb that will measure a total of 28 kilometres with an average gradient of 6%, but will rise to 24% in the final stretch. After the summit, there will be six kilometres of descent to the finish, where we will learn the name of the winner of the Grande Boucle. The situation seems to have crystallised. Certainly Pogacar will no longer need a sprint to try and overturn the classification.
The final week starts with the only time trial of the race, and even it isn’t one for the specialists, lasting just 22km and featuring hilly terrain along the way.
Most of the stage is on undulating roads but the final is all uphill with the Côte de Domancy, a 2.5km long climb at 9.4% (max 15%) and the final 2km between 5/6%. Bookmakers favourites: POGACAR T. 2.5, VINGEGAARD J. 2.5, VAN AERT W. 6, YATES A. 21, YATES S. 41.
Weather forecast: Passy – start of first rider (1 pm): thunderstorms (0.3 mm), 33°C, moderate W wind (3 – 45 Km/h), humidity 36%; Passy (2 pm): thunderstorms (0.3 mm), 34°C, moderate SW wind (6 – 47 Km/h), humidity 34%; Passy (3 pm): thunderstorms (0.4 mm), 34°C, strong S wind (6 – 54 Km/h), humidity 37%; Passy (4 pm): thunderstorms (0.6 mm), 33°C, moderate wind from the SO (8 – 49 Km/h), humidity 36%; Passy – yellow jersey start (17:00): thunderstorms (0.2mm), 32°C (felt 33°C), strong SO wind (5 – 54 Km/h), humidity 44%; Combloux – first rider’s finish (approx. 2pm): thunderstorms (0.3mm), 33°C, moderate SO wind (7 – 45 Km/h), 35% humidity; Combloux (3 pm): thunderstorms (0.4 mm), 33°C, strong S wind (7 – 50 Km/h), humidity 37%; Combloux (4 pm): thunderstorms (0.6 mm), 32°C, moderate SO wind (8 – 45 Km/h), humidity 38%; Combloux – yellow jersey finish (5 pm): thunderstorms (0.1 mm), 32°C, strong SO wind (6 – 50 Km/h), humidity 45%.
Stage 17: Wednesday 19 July; Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc – Courchevel (166km, mountain). Altitude gain 5405m
THE INAPPELLABLE JUDGMENT OF SOUVENIR HENRY DESGRANGE
Jonas sealed the deal for the overall victory after Tadej’s crisis on the interminable Col de la Loze. The stage goes to the breakaway, and Gall triumphs in the 17th stage of the Tour de France
Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen) won the seventeenth stage of the 110th Tour de France, the queen stage of this year’s edition, consisting of a 166-kilometre alpine ride from Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel that included no less than 5400 metres of elevation gain. The 25-year-old Hapsburg rider was 34 seconds ahead of Briton Adam Yates (Jayco Alula) at the finish line, which was set at the end of a ramp with an 18% gradient, with Basque Pello Bilbao taking the third coin at 1’38 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey, Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), who finished fourth at 1’52 seconds. The Scandinavian, thanks to today’s result, can celebrate the conquest of his second consecutive Tour. In the classification, in fact, he can boast a reassuring margin of 7’35” over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who drifted off today, with the latter’s team-mate, Briton Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), who retained third place in the classification, albeit 10’45” behind the leader. Today’s stage, characterised in the first phase by the fight for the polka-dot jersey, initially had Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) from Abruzzo as the main protagonist, who took the spoils by taking the lead at the top of the first three bumps of the day, the Col des Saisies, the Cormet de Roselens and the Côte de Longefoy. With the 25 points gained, the Teatino, who climbed to 88 points in the ranking, put a serious mortgage on the final victory in the climbers’ classification. The 2023 Grande Boucle was decided on the eagerly awaited Col de la Loze, the toughest, longest and highest climb of this year’s Grande Boucle, which, at 2,304m, awarded the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, the equivalent of the Cima Coppi at the Giro d’Italia. As usual, it started with a parallel double race. In front AG2R and Jayco, not coincidentally the teams of the first two at the finish, alternated in setting the pace; behind Ineos Grenadiers was trying to sew up the race, fearing for the position of its captain Carlos Rodriguez, who had become precarious due to the presence of Bilbao and Simon Yates among the outriders, who were threatening him in the rankings. The balance, which had seen the margin between the two platoons remain crystallised for 20 kilometres at two and a half minutes, was upset with seven to go and 13 to go. This was the moment when Tadej Pogacar broke away, collapsing. An authentic ordeal began for the Komenda champion, who was taken care of and led to the finish line by his faithful Spanish squire Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates). Having noticed his rival’s crisis, Vingegaard took the lead. Under the action of Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma), the top platoon crumbled.The Fisher King then set off alone, finding his trusted squires Tiesj Benoot and Wilco Kelderman waiting for him on the climb, cleverly inserted into the day’s breakaway, ready to pull him along to give him breathing space. Only a combination of a car and motorbike stuck on a hairpin bend stood in the way of the Viking’s irrepressible comeback. In the meantime, Gall and Simon Yates were closing the gap in front, proceeding, some 20 seconds apart, towards the summit of the Col de la Loze, where the Austrian was the first to pass in blissful solitude, conquering the 40 points that still allowed him to hope to snatch the polka-dot jersey from Ciccone on the Champs Elysees. The situation did not change on the following descent and on the long final ramp, with the exhausted riders arriving in no particular order at the finish. Full Results here
Tomorrow will be the eighteenth stage. The riders will ride 185 kilometres from Moûtiers to Bourg-en-Bresse. Two fourth-category GPMs will produce an altitude difference of 1,000 metres, which should not, however, prevent a bunch sprint. I don’t know why I expect a soporific stage.
Although not too long, 165,7km, but with over 5,000m of climbing, stage 17 is the queen stage of the 2023 edition. 4 categorised GPM in the Alps, with the hardest, the Col de la Loze, saved until the last. The Col de la Loze at 2,304 metres will be the highest point the Tour reaches this year and with its steep, fluctuating gradients, excessive length, narrow roads and high altitude, might just be the race’s hardest climb. The day begins with the familiar combination of the Col des Saisies and Cormet de Roseland with endless opportunities to get into the break. In order we pass two classics such as the Col des Saisies (13.4 km at 5.1%, but uneven, with many stretches at 7/8%) and the Cormet de Roselend (19.9 km at 6%, divided between the 12 km at 7.2% of the Col du Méraillet and the final stretch of around 6 km at 6. 5%); after the subsequent (technical) descent, it’s 13 km downhill to the foot of the Col du Tra (climb of 11.5 km in all, with the GPM at Longefoy after 6.6 km at 7.5%, the hardest).
Another ten or so kilometres at the bottom of the valley (first downhill, then noticeably uphill) brings you to the foot of Courchevel, a climb that you only take in part, turn right at Le Praz to go to Méribel and climb the Col de la Loze: a total of 28. 1 km at 6%, but it has to be divided between the first section (11 km at 6.6%), the easiest section (pedalable climb or descent) to Méribel and the last 11.5 km at an average of 8.4% and peaks of up to 24%. From the summit to the finish line there are only 6.6 km, not all of which are downhill: there is an initial double-digit climb of around 400 metres at 2.5 km to the finish and then the final surge (max 18%) on the Courchevel last ramp. Bookmakers favourites: VINGEGAARD J. 2.5, POGACAR T. 3.5, YATES A. 14, GALL F 21, VAN AERT W. 21, YATES S. 21, CICCONE G. 24, RODRIGUEZ C. 24, BILBAO P. 24, GAUDU D. 30, MORIC M. 30.
Weather forecast: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc: thunderstorms (2.4 mm), 24°C, moderate wind from W (2 – 43 Km/h), humidity 70%; Beaufort (bonus sprint – Km 46): light rain (0.5 mm), 25°C (felt 26°C), moderate O wind (7 – 43 Km/h), humidity 71%; Bourg-Saint-Maurice (Km 85.5): weak rain (0.4 mm), 24°C (felt 25°C), strong westerly wind (10 – 58 Km/h), 70% humidity; Courchevel-Le Praz (Km 140.5): weak rain (0.1 mm), 21°C, moderate westerly wind (7 – 43 Km/h), 73% humidity; Courchevel : no forecast available
Stage 18: Thursday 20 July; Moûtiers – Bourg-en-Bresse (186km, flat). Altitude gain 1211m
The Asgreen day!
Asgreen saves the Tour for Quick-Step by outsprinting the breakaway group after a long tug-of-war with the sprinters’ teams. Eenkhoorn second, sprint of the beaten in Philipsen
Danish rider Kasper Asgreen (Soudal QuickStep) won the 18th stage of the 110th Tour de France over the 185 kilometres flat from Moûtiers to Bourg-en-Bresse. The winner of the Tour of Flanders 2021 sprinted ahead of his breakaway companions, Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny) and Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X Pro Cycling Team), managing to hold off the return of the peloton with green jersey Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) taking a bitterly-tasting fourth place in the wake of the top three. To seal the day in the name of Hamlet, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) retained the yellow jersey with an advantage of 7’35” over Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and 10’45” over the Slovenian’s team-mate, Briton Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). It was supposed to be a boring, even soporific stage according to my predictions: this was not the case. What proved me wrong was the heroic action of a trio consisting of Belgian Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny), Asgreen and Abrahamsen. Having started at kilometre zero, the attackers covered the entire stage ahead, although they never achieved a lead of more than one and a half minutes. At minus sixty from the finish an unusual operation took place. Eenkhoorn departed from the bunch just as Campenaerts slipped out in front. The two, team-mates at Lotto, met each other at the halfway point and then created an impromptu breakaway at the Trofeo Baracchi to catch up with the two Scandinavians in the lead. After that, with renewed vigour, the quartet kept going, keeping the peloton at a distance. Thus it came to minus 15 from the finish with the margin of the outriders now reduced to 20 seconds. Under normal circumstances, the attackers would have had no chance. Two extraordinary factors contributed to the success of the breakaway. In the peloton, the Soudal QuickStep tandem of Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe and Belgian Tim Declercq operated a continuous disruptive action, systematically breaking the changes. Up front, Campenaerts reminded himself and the world that he was, very recently, from 16 April 2019 to 19 August 2022 to be precise, the hour recordman. Forgetful of any team tactics, the Fleming literally towed his three breakaway companions to the 400-metre mark, allowing them to play for the day’s success. As soon as Asgreen crossed the finish line, even before celebrating, he went to express his gratitude. Full Results here
Tomorrow will see the nineteenth stage consisting of a slightly undulating 173-kilometre ride from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny. It is difficult to envisage a solution other than a bunch sprint, even more so after today’s mockery.
The Alps are now behind and this should be a stage for the sprinters, but the terrain if very undulated and the remaining sprinter teams will have to work hard in controlling the race.
Stage 19: Friday 21 July: Moirans-en-Montagne – Poligny (173km, flat). Altitude gain 1950m
Mohoric denies the encore at Asgreen
Matej triumphed in Poligny in the 19th stage of the Tour de France. Crazy stage, double breakaway and tussle from the first metre.
Slovenian Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) won the nineteenth stage of the 110th Tour de France, a ride of gentle ups and downs that took the riders from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny over 173 kilometres. The Milan-San Remo 2022 triumphant rider preceded the Danish Kasper Asgreen (Soudal QuickStep), winner of yesterday’s stage, at the photo finish. In third place, four seconds back, came Australian Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen). The general classification remained unchanged with Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) keeping the yellow jersey with an advantage of 7’35” over Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who finished ahead of his team-mate, Briton Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), third at 10’45”. Today witnessed an impromptu classic, completely divorced from the context of the Grande Boucle. It took an hour and a half at 50 kmh for a breakaway of 29 riders to take shape, in which, in addition to the trio that battled it out for the final success, there were top cyclists such as Belgian Tiesj Benoot and Frenchman Cristophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma), Italian Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Englishman Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), another Italian Alberto Bettiol (EF Education EasyPost), two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal QuickStep), Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (NED) with team-mate and green jersey Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Dane Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek). The group of classification men gave way to the breakaway. The fate of the stage was decided on the Cotè d’Ivory, a fourth-category GPM, the last asperity of the course at minus 30 from the finish. It was Asgreen who broke away, taking Mohoric and O’Connor with him. The trio climbed to the top with a 20-second advantage and managed to resist the comeback attempt by the Italian pair of Bettiol-Trentin, who unsuccessfully staged an impromptu Baracchi Trophy. Despite the recompacting behind the outriders of a plot of nine high-profile riders, the trio managed to build up a margin of safety in order to play for the day’s success. O’Connor, knowing he was beaten, set off on a long run only to be swallowed up by Asgreen at 250 metres. When it looked as if the Dane’s encore was a done deal, Mohoric came out and, with a well-suited stroke of the kidneys, prevailed by a few millimetres. Full Results here
Tomorrow will be the turn of stage 20. Originally designed to be decisive in the event of continuing uncertainty, the stage over the Vosges, in the land of Alsace, will be as short as it is intense: just 133 kilometres from Belfort to Le Markstein (Fellering). Immediately at the start there will be the Ballon d’Alsace, scene of Eddy Merckx’s first victory at the Tour back in 1969. Then it will be the turn of the Col de la Croix des Moinats (5.2 km at 7%) followed by the Col de Grosse Pierre and the Col de la Schlucht. Dulcis in fundo, the riders will tackle the two first category GPMs the Petit Ballon and the Col du Platzerwasel. On these two climbs Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) will compete for the climbers’ classification polka dot jersey. From the last summit to the finish there will be eight kilometres of very slight descent.
Another opportunity for the fast wheels, in a stage that could end in a bunch finish. However, we’re back in the Jura today, with two categorised climbs, the second of which has its summit 29.1km from the finish town of Poligny. The sprinters today have their last chance before Paris. Bookmakers Favourites: PHILIPSEN J. 8, VAN DER POEL M. 9, PEDERSEN M. 9, CORT NIELSEN M. 13, MOHORIC M. 16, KRAGH ANDERSEN S. 16.
Stage 20: Saturday 22 July; Belfort – Le Markstein Fellering (133km, mountain). Altitude gain 3484m
Tadej Pogacar wins the 20th stage of the Tour de France with an overpowering sprint
On the day when – in his Vosges – Pinot is celebrated.
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won the 20th stage of the 110th Tour de France, a 133-kilometre-long toboggan of continuous ups and downs over the Vosges from Belfort to Le Markstein (Fellering) with no flat sections. The Komenda champion took a consolation victory at the end of a narrow sprint ahead of Austrian Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen) and the yellow jersey, Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma). The latter will celebrate tomorrow on the Champs Elysees his second consecutive triumph in the Grande Boucle. In the general classification, the angler king held the remarkable margin of 7’29” over his Slovenian rival with Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) third at 10’56”. Italian Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek), already winner of the similar prize at the 2019 Giro d’Italia, won the polka dot jersey 31 years after Claudio Chiappucci’s success in the 1992 Tour, the one that went down in history for Diablo’s unforgettable feat at Sestriere. To seal the ranking, the Abruzzese rider took the lead on the first four GPM of the day: the Ballon d’Alsace, the Col de la Croix des Moinats, the Col de Grosse Pierre and the Col de la Schlucht. At the top of the latter climb, aware of his achievement, Ciccone let out a probably excessive yet understandable jubilation. Three months ago, COVID had forced him to give up the Giro d’Italia, his main seasonal objective. Today’s result evens the score with bad luck on the very same Alsatian roads that gave him the yellow jersey atop the Planche des Belles Filles four years ago. After the climbers’ classification had been defined, a decidedly emotional moment took place. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ), in his last Tour de France, was attempting a solo on his home roads. There were scenes of football cheering on the roadside as the native of Melisey, 30 kilometres from Belfort, where the race had started today, tried to dispel the saying that ‘no one is a prophet in his own country’. Unfortunately for the Franche-Comté rider, Pogacar had today’s stage in his sights. After Pinot had passed first, between two rows of delirious fans, at the summit of the Petit Ballon, the penultimate GPM of the day, on the last asperity, the Col du Platzerwasel, the inevitable reversal took place, the child of the rhythm imposed by the UAE. Then, at minus 14 from the finish, Tadej sprinted away, taking the yellow jersey and the surprising Gall behind him, who had declared before the start that he would not fight for the polka dot jersey as he was aiming to win the stage. The three quickly swallowed up Pinot and sprinted towards the finish. At minus four the Yates twins rejoined the outriders, thanks solely to Simon (Jyco AlUla) who was pulling his brother Adam. The latter, in turn, put himself at the service of his captain by putting himself at the head of the bunch and launching himself into the sprint. Vingegaard attempted a long sprint but the Slovenian easily overtook him at the 150-metre mark with Gall going on to take the place of honour. Full Results here
Tomorrow the 110th Tour de France will come to a close in Paris with the traditional parade over the Champs Elysees. The twenty-first and final stage will start from Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, on the outskirts of the capital, at 16:30. The riders will pass the finish line for the first time after 59 kilometres. Nine laps of the city circuit will follow, bringing the total mileage of the stage to 115 before the final sprint at sunset in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe.
The final mountain stage is constant up and downs in the Vosges region. This is the shortest road stage of the race, just 133km but with six categorised climbs and the finish at Le Markstein just after the Col of Platzerwasel (7.1km at 8.4%) with his summit just 8km to go.
The last 35km are tough and the penultimate climb, the Petit Ballon, avg 8.1% over 9.3km, can be the perfect occasion for a last attack to reshuffle the GC.
Stage 21: Sunday 23 July 2023; Saint-Quentin-En-Yvelines – Paris Champs-Elysées (115km, flat). Altitude gain 598
Jordi Meeus won the final stage at the Champs Elysees
In the final stage of the Tour de France 2023, a surprise victory for the Belgian of Bora-Hansgrohe, who mocked the green jersey Philipsen. Third Groenewegen, then Pedersen.
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) won the 110th Tour de France, which started on 1 July from Bilbao and ended today with the traditional Parisian parade on the Champs Elysees. Vingegaard, who was born in Hillerslev in Jutland on 10 December 1996, at the same time as the first Scandinavian triumph at the Grande Boucle with Bjarne Riis, repeated his 2022 success. In three appearances at the Tour, the angler king collected a second place on his 2021 debut behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team. Emirates), followed by two recent triumphs. For his part, the Slovenian finished in the place of honour for the second year running, 5’14” behind the winner. If 12 months ago the Komenda champion could be blamed, this time he can only be praised for the courage he showed in presenting himself at the start, despite being short of preparation after the wrist fracture suffered at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on 23 April. In third place at 8’44”, taking his first podium place on French soil, was Britain’s Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Pogacar’s team-mate. The final act of the race saw Belgian Jordi Meeus (Bora Hansgrohe) deny compatriot Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Deceuninck) his fifth partial victory with Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) taking third place. Best Italian today, as in the other sprints, was young Luca Mozzato from Vicenza (Arkea Samsic), who finished tenth. Full Results here
For two and a half weeks we witnessed a beautiful Tour de France, raced at an insane pace. In the long run, however, Pogacar’s sketchy preparation emerged with the scales tipped firmly in Vingegaard’s favour.
The usual procession into Paris with the grandstand finish on the Champs-Élysées. This will be missing next year, with the 2024 Tour concluding with an individual time trial in Nice as the French capital gets ready for the Olympic Games. Today stage will start at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, where the velodrome hosting track cycling at the 2024 Olympics is located, and will end with the iconic Champs-Elysées circuit ready for the expected final bunch sprint.
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