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68km to go: Dylan Teuns joins the leading trio, as does Geschke, who goes over the summit in the polka-dot competition, with the others not challenging him. Erviti, Pedersen, Barthe and Asgreen are off the back, and Ciccone lost the wheels some time ago.
70km to go: The third-category climb arrives and serves to split the breakaway pack. Kämna, Schachman and Luke Durbridge, the latter of Bike-Exchange, the first two from Bora go up ahead.
News of the intermediate sprint below, where Van Aert sped to the front of the peloton to claim the points left on offer in the green jersey standings.
75km to go: Primoz Roglic, who looked in decent nick considering his dislocated shoulder yesterday, drops to the back of the field. He’s chatting to his team car, and the hope is he can put in some kind of challenge to Pogacar. Someone has to, and with Egan Bernal still making his way back, there is a distinct lack of serious challengers to his fellow Slovenian.
Matt Cast gets in touch: “French TV commentators agree with you, they seem convinced that Pogacar is going for the stage win today, making the most of his excellent form to build his lead.”
85km to go: Simon Thomas gets in touch: “Contrary to Gary Naylor’s view, this isn’t the stage for Ineos or Jumbo Visma to be burning their matches, particularly since UAE Team Emirates also have someone up the road in the breakaway to help slow it down; the stage is relatively flat, so UAE are unlikely going to have too much trouble keeping the break within reach until the final climb. Sunday and the start of the mountain stages will be a different matter though – here’s hoping for attack after attack, it’s the only way that Pogacar can possibly be beaten.”
A question from Paolo Biriani: “Apologies if you’ve had this before but how do the yellow jerseys get the sponsors logos and name and correct size so quickly for each rider? Is there a yellow Jersey trailer whose sole job is to do this?”
Answer, from this article on Road CC from 2021:
The organisers have adapted with the times and now offer well-fitting clothing for all of the classification leaders. The designs for each team are decided before the race and are printed up as and when they’re needed.
That said, Adam Yates recently said that it was a shame that the organisers couldn’t provide a yellow skinsuit when he took the race lead in the first week. With aerodynamics being such an important consideration in modern racing, it might not be too long before you see yellow skinsuits in road stages of the Tour de France.
The gap is 1’40” or thereabouts.
90km to go: The whittling continues, it’s down to 1’ 40” or so, with UAE taking on fluids as they continue to lead the peloton’s chase of the breakaway. There’s an intermediate sprint and then a third-category climb to follow within the next 15-20km.
100km to go: Signs that Pogacar’s UAE team don’t want the breakaway to get too far ahead, and they are working together on the front, him to the fore, and whittling down the advantage. Pog may well fancy another win at La Planche, the scene of his major breakthrough. He’s prominent at the front of the peloton, and the gap is two minutes or so.
105km to go: Tadej Pogacar takes a comfort break, and so does much of the rest of the field, thus offering up to the breakaway the chance to further extend their lead to around 2’ 30”.
A Malicious A (Intergalactic Explorer, Renowned Space Pirate (retired), Style Icon and Master Brewer.) tweets in: “Mads & Tuens up the road together augers well for a good class in managing a break. Massively looking forward to today, as when the climbers are fully able to get a stomp up the mountains & the race opens there’s some heroics to be had. Thrilling stuff.”
Yellow Jersey Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar takes a breather alongside Belgium rider Frederik Frison of Lotto Soudal. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA115km to go: Yes, the breakaway is in full session, and there’s a few disappointed parties for missing the break, and that includes Magnus Cort and Michael Woods who set off to give chase but eventually gave up the ghost. There’s 11 of them off up the front and they have opened up a lead of 1’25” or so. Dylan Teuns, the 2019 winner at La Planche Des Belles Filles, is safely in the pack.
Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates) Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) Imanol Erviti (Movistar) Simon Geschke (Cofidis) Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) Cyril Barthe (B&B Hotels) Disappointing from Ineos @JohnBrewin_ Pidcock should have gone up the road to join Ganna, not Ganna drift back to Pidcock. UAE would have had to chase and they don’t want to.
Pogacar (and his team) is going to have another armchair ride to the final.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 8, 2022 125km to go: Ganna, who will be required to pull some of his Ineos teammates up the hill at the finish, is called back by his team and sits up. Geschke forges on but for long. He’s caught by five other riders, and this is a breakaway that has a chance. The rest of the field sit back and look to be feeding themselves.
130km to go: Simon Geschke, the veteran Cofidis rider, goes off on a solo run, and he has a gap of eight seconds. Three riders go after him, and he is joined by Filippo Ganna of Ineos, the pair instantly hooking up and working as one. Geschke’s Twitter suggests he looks like a cross between Mo Salah and Brendan O’Neill, and is a previous stage winner, from 2015, the 17th stage from Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup, a hilly old day.
140km to go: Still no break, despite Peter Sagan being one of those attempting to get in one of them. Instead, they continue to rattle along at that ludicrous pace.
145km to go: It might be argued that England’s revolution came during the English Civil War, and it’s too long ago for buildings to have properly survived. It didn’t have such far-reaching effects, either.
How come so many chateaux and churches survived the Revolution @JohnBrewin_ ? There seem to be more in a single department of France than in the whole of England – and we didn’t really have a revolution.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 8, 2022 150km to go: The peloton whips past a field of horse being ridden by some clearly very experienced riders, they were being ridden very hard. The average speed is over 50kph, which is rapid. Good luck breaking away when they are going at such a lick. Thibaut Pinot, the local lad, who is yet to win on his home soil. Some quotes from him, per Cycling News.
It’s different and special, partly because of its location and partly because it is so often the first big climb of the race. Though for me, in any case, it’s also a massive bonus to be at home, in the mountains where I live.
So each time it’s a very key part of the route, all the leaders have to be up there, they have to be well-positioned from when they get on the climb. It’s the first major climbing rendezvous of the race.
Though for me, in any case, it’s also a massive bonus to be at home, in the mountains where I live.
160km to go: Honoré’s dig for victory doesn’t last too long, and so the pack pulls back together before something of a split develops, only to be closed back down again. There’s about 30 trying to get away up the front, including Magnus Cort, in the polka dot jersey. Marc Soler meanwhile is still trying to get back on the tail of the peloton.
170km to go: Not much success in the breakaway attempts so far, though George Bennett, a key Pogacar ally, has dropped off the back. So has Marc Solar. The UAE team seem to have some issues with their bikes. Mikkel Honoré, another of the many Danes in this race, has an early dig and picks up a lead of around five seconds but doesn’t seem to be too hopeful. He’s cycling into a headwind, which will at least cool the heat.
And away we go!Pogacar had a pre-race mechanical and had to give it some to get on the back of the peloton. His rivals must hope that’s taken something out of him, but that may be a vain hope. Some last-minute running repairs are completed and he’s soon riding through the pack. Once Christian Prudhomme lets them go, off go the attempts at a breakaway. It’s pretty flat for much of the stage until we get to the end, and that’s when the climbing begins. The estimate is the last 25 minutes will be spent riding uphill.
The départ réel is just 3km away for the riders, making their way through the town of Tomblaine.
And ten years ago, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome went over the top together, and the yellow jersey was all but decided, with Froome winning the stage.
The last time Le Tour visited this summit finish, Pogacar broke the heart of Primoz Roglic with an extraterrestrial performance in 2020 in a time trial.
All eyes on the yellow jersey. Can Pogacar defend it all the way to Paris? Very probably.
Jeremy Whittle witnessed Tadej Pogacar’s power play yesterday.
Pogacar may be smiling but his rivals aren’t. With another 15 days of racing to come, this could be a very long Tour for some of them. So far, they have not even landed a punch. The leader’s yellow jersey is now back on the Slovenian’s shoulders without a major climb being tackled and there’s every sign that the double Tour winner is just getting started.
Friday’s summit finish at Super Planche des Belles Filles, where he executed a remarkable coup to win his first Tour in 2020, is, the 23-year-old said, “special” to him. Back-to-back stage wins are now a distinct possibility. “Super Planche des Belles Filles is special for me,” he said of the Vosges climb on which he shattered the hapless Primoz Roglic’s grip on the race lead in September 2020.
PreambleIt’s Tadej Pogacar’s Tour and the rest are just living in it. So dominant was he in winning yesterday at Longwy that we are already at the stage of working out how long he might take to win the five Tours that the likes of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain took, perhaps even the seven that Lance Armstrong didn’t win. Four-time winner Chris Froome, still riding in this race, never looked quite so dominant. So, after he cracked the field and seized yellow on Thursday, with Wout van Aert’s failed escape making him a notable casualty, here comes the mountains to put the hammer down. It looks a day when the four Ineos riders in the top ten of GC may have to band together to either try and crack Pogacar, or hang on for dear life. Even though his Team Emirates support may not be the strongest, the latter looks the more likely on a summit finish.
Here’s William Fotheringham’s pre-Tour guide to today’s stage. It promises to be a big day.
Stage 7, Friday 8 July: Tomblaine-La Planche des Belles Filles, 176.5km
The first mountain-top finish; the super-steep “Plank” is relatively short at 8km, and with no major climbs beforehand, time gaps at the top should be relatively tight. The early break should contest the stage win – if Thibaut Pinot has lost time early on this is an obvious target – but for the big names the equation is pretty simple: if Tadej Pogacar gains time, he’s set fair for a third win. If not, all bets are off.
Stage seven