The next big race is Paris-Roubaix, a very important race for the sponsor, but a difficult one with our best option, Stefan Kung, still injured, so we will hope that Demare can get into the top 10.
Team: Demare, Sarreau, Konovalovas, Lienhard, Sinkeldam, Geniets and Le Gac
A break 5 riders, including Sepulveda, Marcato, Serry, Claeys and Sarreau go clear pretty early. We’re hoping Sarreau can be useful for Demare later on in the race. However, they don’t get more than 3’45’’ and at the first cobbled section, the gap has gone down to 1’54’’. But the peloton let the gap grow a bit more and with 100kms to go, the gap is 3’04’’. With 70kms to go, Demare is struggling to keep up with the favourites and is dropped.
He finds himself in a group with Van Baarle and Degenkolb but they lose a lot of time. 10kms later, that group is already 1’35’’ on the group of favourites, made of 26 riders. Lienhard and Konovalovas make it back to that group and they try to close the gap but they can’t. That group quickly loses more and more time and with 45kms to go, they are 4’30’’ down, so their race is over. In the front group, after each cobbled section, the front group slims down.
On Carrefour de l’Arbre, Van Aert accelerates and only Naesen can follow the attack. They get around 20’’ gap but they are caught again.
On the last cobbled section, Vanmarcke attacks but he is caught just before the entrance to the velodrome by Van Aert, Naesen, Stuyven and Benoot.
They have 21’’ on a second group made of Politt, Kristoff and Terpstra. The rest of the front group has been dropped and are 2’07’’ behind. Van Aert starts his sprint and wins the race ahead of Vanmarcke and Naesen. It’s extremely tight, but the man from Jumbo-Visma takes top spot.
Demare finishes a very disappointing 54th, 12’41’’ behind the winner.
In between the two cobbles monuments, the team participate in the Itzulia Basque Country, with a team looking for stage wins and hopefully a high placing in the GC with Gaudu.
Team: Gaudu, Madouas, Reichenbach, Brunel, Seigle, Frankiny and Ladagnous
Stage 1 is an ITT. Bernal wins it ahead of G. Thomas and Roglic. Gaudu is our best performer. He is 42nd, 1’20’’ down. So it's a bad start, but the TT is not Gaudu's strong point.
Stage 2 is a sprinters stage, however with an uphill sprint to finish. Like in Catalunya, there is a lack of sprinters, so we decide to go in the break in the hope that the peloton will let it go until the end. Brunel is our man in the break, but they are overtaken by the bunch with under 2kms to go. In the sprint, Alaphilippe wins ahead of Molano and Madouas.
Stage 3 is a similar type of stage. Considered as a flat stage, it has another uphill sprint at the finish. In the last kilometer, Van Der Poel starts his sprint and Gaudu jumps on his wheel and overtakes him with a couple of hundred of meters to go and takes the stage.
The aim was a stage win and we've done it. After winning a stage in the Tirreno, Gaudu takes another WT stage.
Stage 4 is a hilly stage which is won by Alaphilippe ahead of Pogacar and Van der Poel. There is a hill about 3kms to the finish, so it is a stage made for him, Alaphilippe wins the stage 22’’ ahead of the group of favourites after he accelerates before the top of the climb. No one can follow his attack and easily wins the stage. Gaudu and Madouas are in that group of favourites behind the Frenchman.
Stage 5 is a really hilly stage, and arguably the queen’s stage, with a summit finish at the top of the Alto de Arrate. Reichenbach goes in the break but the break is caught with about 20kms to go. However, the team is working hard to bring Gaudu and Madouas back into the front group. On an earlier climb, they are both really badly placed in the peloton and are caught in a queue of riders struggling to get up. It’s a very small road and they quickly lose time on the main favourites. With only Frankiny left to help and no one else in the group willing to help the chase, Gaudu and Madouas can’t catch the favourites and they finish almost 10’ behind the winner. At the front Bernal wins the stage ahead of Alaphilippe and Buchmann. To make matters worse, Ladagnous falls and has to withdraw from the race with a broken rib.
Stage 6 is another hilly stage, a typical Itzulia kind of stage. It’s a short (113kms), hard stage. After 50kms, the front group only has 31 riders left in it, with Gaudu the only Groupama-FDJ representative. The break never has more than 30’’ on the bunch. On the last hill, with about 2kms to go, Adam Yates attacks and wins the stage. Alaphilippe and Gaudu complete the podium.
Team: Gaudu, Madouas, Molard, Reichenbach, Roux, Frankiny and Kung
Kung is back after the classics, so we get him in the race to get a bit of form back. A group of 7 riders go in the breakaway. They get a maximum of 7’45’’ on the peloton. With 30kms to go, on the Keutenberg climb, the whole Groupama team is badly placed and ends up in a group about 1’45’’ behind the favourites. Roux and then Kung do some great work to bring the group back to around a minute, but with 15kms to go, Alaphilippe attacks on the Cauberg, with Valverde and Schachmann in his wheel, and the gap goes up to 1’20’’.
The front three work well together and at the bottom of the last ascent of the Cauberg they have a minute on a group of 14 riders, which include Madouas and Gaudu. Molard and Madouas have done some great work bringing Gaudu back into contention. The winner will come from that front three, but we can hope for a good place.
There are no attacks from the front group so it goes down to a sprint which is won by Valverde ahead of Schachmann and Alaphilippe. In the group behind, Formolo attacks with Gaudu in his wheel. They create a little gap and Formolo gets 4th place with Gaudu in 5th.
Spoiler
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
6h41'29
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1'09
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Mathieu Van Der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
+ 1'36
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Mads Pedersen
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
La Fleche Wallonne
Team: Gaudu, Madouas, Pinot, Molard, Reichenbach, Roux and Frankiny
As expected, Fleche Wallonne comes down to a sprint on the Mur de Huy. After the Cote de Cherave, Alaphillipe attacks and at the bottom of the Mur de Huy, along with Van Der Poel and Valverde, he has 18’’ on the group of main favourites.
Van der Poel and Alaphilippe quickly get a gap on Valverde who is caught by the main group. With 400 meters to go, Alaphilippe looks cooked and Van der Poel starts his sprint.
He overtakes Alaphilippe and wins the race. Gaudu finishes 6th.
Spoiler
Mathieu Van Der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
4h56’47’’
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+19’’
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Liege-Bastogne-Liege
The final Ardennes classic and another objective for the team, with a top 5 expected. With Gaudu’s good results in the previous races, we’re hoping for more.
Team: Gaudu, Madouas, Molard, Reichenbach, Roux, Frankiny and Kung
Kung goes in the day’s break, along with 9 other riders. It’s a strong group, but they are caught with 42kms to go. At that point, the front group only has 35 riders left, including Madouas and Gaudu. With 35kms to go, at the top of the Col de la Redoute, Dan Martin attacks and sheds 15 riders out of the front group.
At the top of the Col de la Roche aux Faucons, Alaphilippe attacks and creates a gap of 10’’ on Schachmann, Van der Poel and Valverde and 31’’ on a group made of 8 riders, including Gaudu, but with 8kms to go, they are all back together.
The winner will be from this group. With 1.5kms to go, Alaphilippe starts his sprint with Van der Poel in his wheel. They both get a bit of a gap and Van der Poel overtakes the Frenchman for the win.
Gaudu follows Formolo and finishes 5th.
Spoiler
Mathieu Van Der Poel
Alpecin-Fenix
6h40'13
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Ion Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 48
In the meantime, the team raced Tro-Bro Leon, another objective from the sponsors. Bonifazio won the race ahead of Lienhard. Unfortunately, Sarreau fell with 5 kms to go so was out of contention. But second with Lienhard is a good result for the team.
Team: Kung, Lienhard, Frankiny, Reichenbach, Geniets, Sinkeldam and Guglielmi
All the Swiss riders head to Switzerland’s first stage race of the season and we’re hoping for a stage win and we will be going for the Mountain jersey with either Frankiny or Reichenbach.
Stage 1 is a short 3.8kms prologue. It’s won by Adam Yates with Dumoulin and Kung within the same second, completing the podium.
Stage 2 is a hilly stage. Frankiny manages to get in the break to go for the mountain jersey. He goes first at the top of the 5 climbs of the day so takes maximum points on the day. With 21kms to go, the front group has only 23 riders left. There is a short climb about 10kms from the finish. At that point Frankiny is out of gas, but Kung is still in that group. He manages to stay in touch with some of the favourites like Yates, Nibali, Bernal or Thomas and with 5.5kms to go, he tries an attack. The group takes a while to get organised and he gets 15’’ on that group. Once they organise themselves, they quickly come back, but not quickly enough, so Kung wins the stage ahead of Nibali. As a result, he takes the leaders jersey.
Stage 3 is a sprinter’s stage. Viviani is head and shoulders above everyone else. He wins ahead of Cimolai and Erik Baska. Lienhard is 12th.
Stage 4 is another hilly stage. It’s won by Gino Mader, the last rider left from the break. Kung finishes 10th in the group of favourites. Unfortunately, Frankiny could not get in the break and loses the mountains jersey to Pacher.
Stage 5 is a mountain stage. It’s a very short stage and it will be hard to keep the leader's jersey. We'll try our best to lose as little time as possible and with an 18kms TT to close the race, be in contention for the overall title. Adam Yates attacks right at the bottom of the finishing climb. There is no panic in the Groupama ranks. Geniets, Frankiny and Reichenbach pace Kung to the top of the climb and he loses around 55’’ on Yates who is second on the stage. Majka wins stage 5. Kung is 7th in the GC and now trails Yates by 53’’ with the upcoming TT. With riders like Dumoulin and Thomas in between Yates and Kung, it will be impossible to make the time up on such a short TT.
Stage 6 is the TT and Kung finishes 4th in the stage, which is won by Dumoulin ahead of Froome and Yates. As a result, Kung climbs up a place in the GC, which is won by Dumoulin.
The first Grand Tour of the season is here and we're hoping to continue the great season the team is having. Our sponsor wants at least a stage win and the team is centred around Demare for a sprint win. Vincent and Roux are there to play their cards during breakaways and hope for a good result if these breakaways go all the way.
Team: Demare, Roux, Guarnieri, Thomas, Vincent, Sinkeldam, Konovalovas and Duchesne.
There is a strong sprinting field with Groenewegen, Bennett, Viviani, Ackermann, Jakobsen and Philipsen all present. Other sprinters such as Matthews, Degenkolb and Colbrelli are also there.
On the GC front, Bernal, M.A. Lopez, Nibali, Pogacar, A. Yates and Kruijswijk are the favourites for the GC.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is an ITT.
It is won by Mollema ahead of Adam Yates and Bernal. Jack Haig is 4th while Nibali is 5th. Vincent is our best finisher, in 51st place, but a creditable 27’’ behind the winner.
Stage 2
Stage 2 is a sprinters stage with a couple of hills not too far from the finish.
On the last hill, with about 20 kms to go, Jumbo-Visma accelerate but they drop Groenewegen and a few other sprinters. There is a 45’’ gap between the front group, made of about 30 riders, which includes Demare, and the main peloton. Seeing an opportunity, the Groupama-FDJ train accelerates with Duchesne and then Konovalovas doing a great job making it hard for the sprinters behind. They eventually bridge the gap with about 5kms to go, but the main sprinters are badly placed, which allows Demare to start his sprint clear, with the other contenders a few hundred meters behind him. As a result, he wins the stage and takes Groupama’s first (and hopefully not last) stage of the race. It was a very strange tactic from Jumbo-Visma to accelerate on that last hill as Groenewegen could not follow the pace set by Roosen on that hill (Kruijswijk was also badly placed and got caught too). But we’re not complaining as it brings a victory for Demare.
Spoiler
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
4h59'44
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Magnus Cort Nielsen
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Timo Roosen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Stage 3
Stage 3 is a sprinters stage.
The Groupama train does some great work to put Guarnieri at the front to lead out Demare. He leads, but he completely blows up with 500 meters to go and is overtaken by all the favourites and finishes 12th.
Spoiler
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
5h32'50
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
John Degenkolb
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Sonny Colbrelli
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Jakub Mareczko
CCC Team
s.t.
Stage 4
Stage 4 is a hilly stage.
Roux goes in the day’s break and they do well and are caught with about 30kms to go. Schachmann attacks with about 15kms to go. Formolo is able to follow for a while but loses his wheel.
He won’t be caught and wins the stage 9’’ ahead of Formolo and a duo of Pogacar and Yates who managed to bridge the gap on the uphill finish.
Spoiler
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
6h17'35
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 9
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Michael Woods
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 29
Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 47
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
s.t.
Stage 5
Stage 5 is another sprinters stage.
Duchesne goes into the break and they do well to only be caught with only 8.5 kms to go. So this will be another sprint finish and this time, Groenewegen is the fastest again and wins the stage ahead of Demare and Viviani
Spoiler
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
3h35'27
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
John Degenkolb
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Sonny Colbrelli
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Stage 6
Stage 6 is a hilly stage, which should be another battle between the GC riders.
Today it’s Konovalovas’ turn to get into the break. They get a maximum of 5’45’’ on the peloton. But they get caught at the bottom of the categorised climb. The main group at the top of the climb is made up of around 50 riders. On the little uphill straight after, Mollema attacks and is followed by Yates, Schachmann, Pogacar and Woods.
With 3.5kms to go, Mollema attacks again and drops Pogacar and Woods.
Mollema starts his sprint with 700 meters to go, but he feels his two attacks and is overtaken by Schachmann and Yates.
Spoiler
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
6h33'16
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Michael Woods
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Stage 7
Stage 7 is another stage for punchers.
It’s a very quiet stage and nothing much happens until the uphill sprint. Once again, Schachmann is the winner, so that is 3 stages for him and he consolidates his Maglia Rosa. Leo Vincent takes 20th place for the team.
It has quite a hilly second part of the race, so we send Roux in the break hoping for a surprise. The break is made of 13 riders but the peloton keeps them on a very short leash and they never get more than a 1’05’’ lead. They eventually get caught. Naesen re-attacks and is followed by Capecchi and Roux. They get about 3’15’’ on the bunch but they are caught with 15kms to go. In the hilly finale, Demare struggles a bit and is towards the back of the bunch. Sinkeldam and Guarnieri are still with him and they try hard to bring him back to the front but they can’t do it, so Demare only finishes 45th. Groenewegen easily wins the stage ahead of Cort Nielsen and Pogacar.
Spoiler
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
5h40'15
Magnus Cort Nielsen
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Michael Woods
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Stage 9
Stage 9 is a hilly TT in San Marino.
Trek-Segafredo does the double with Nibali winning ahead of Mollema. It’s a bad TT for Groupama with Thomas being the best finisher, in 99th, 6’52’’ behind the winner.
Spoiler
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
55'50
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 16
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
+ 29
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 34
Jack Haig
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 35
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
+ 44
Lawson Craddock
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 56
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+ 59
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1'00
Rigoberto Urán
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 1'01
This is what the GC looks after the TT
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
38h25'44
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 2
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
+ 10
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 14
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
+ 39
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
+ 57
Davide Formolo
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1'09
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'23
Jack Haig
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'38
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 1'50
Stage 10
Stage 10 is another sprinters stage.
A short stage of 146 kms. The break is caught with about 20kms to go and the Groupama train does a great job in putting Demare in a great position, but once again Groenewegen is too quick. Demare is also overtaken by Philipsen and Viviani.
Spoiler
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
3h19'24
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Sonny Colbrelli
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Giacomo Nizzolo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
John Degenkolb
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Stage 11
Stage 11 is for the sprinters again.
Once again, the Groupama train does a great in putting Guarnieri in a great position to lead out Demare, but with 2.5kms to go, he gets boxed in and loses Guarnieri’s wheel. He follows Philipsen who has also been boxed in and can’t do better than 9th. Groenewegen wins the stage and proves that he is by far the best sprinter in the race.
Spoiler
Dylan Groenewegen
Team Jumbo-Visma
4h41'36
Sonny Colbrelli
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
John Degenkolb
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Jakub Mareczko
CCC Team
s.t.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Stage 12
Stage 12 will be for the GC favourites, with the top of the Montoso climb, about 30kms from the finish line.
Vincent goes in the break and is caught just before the top of the climb. He stays in touch with the favourites over the climb and the front group only has 36 riders left in it and with just under 10kms to go, Vincent attacks.
As he is almost 30’ down, no one decides to chase and he quickly gets a minute on the main group. He gets up to 1’30’’ but 3.5kms to the finish, there is a very small hill and he runs out of gas right at the bottom of that climb. The main group has by that point got its act together and they quickly come back and are 1’05’’ and coming back fast.
At the top of the climb, he has only 8’’ on the main group>
But he keeps the bunch at bay during the small descent and wins the stage. It’s Vincent’s first professional win of his career and what a way to do it!!
Spoiler
Léo Vincent
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
3h39'08
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Jan Polanc
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Gorka Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Edward Dunbar
Team INEOS
s.t.
Jack Haig
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Diego Ulissi
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Stage 13
Stage 13 is a mountain stage with an summit finish at Ceresole Reale.
15 riders go in the break including Dan Martin, Higuita, Betancur and Michael Woods. At the bottom of the last climb, the group of favourites is made up of 37 riders and they are 1’29’’ behind the 9 riders left in the break. It’s a very long climb, almost 20kms, so riders are dropped one by one. Pogacar attacks and the group of favourites is now made of only 5 riders. Higuita is the only rider left from the break and with 2kms to go he has 24’’ on the favourites, but he’s caught under the flamme rouge. Lopez wins the stage ahead of Bernal.
Spoiler
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
5h43'29
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
+ 14
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Sergio Andrés Higuita
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 32
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'04
Rigoberto Urán
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 1'33
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 2'27
Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 2'44
Stage 14
Stage 14 is another mountain stage.
A group of 9 escapees this time and they don’t get more than 3’45’’. At the bottom of the last climb, the peloton are 2’35’’ behind the break. At the top of the climb, De Marchi is the last survivor from the break and he has just over a minute on the group of favourites. Unfortunately, he can’t hold on and is caught with 1.4 kms to go. Pozzovivo wins the sprint ahead of Yates and Dunbar.
Great win for Vincent, lovely breakaway ride! Wonder what he can do with this form in Week 3!
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15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Leo Vincent goes in the break again hoping for a repeat of stage 12. Unfortunately, there will be no repeat as the break is caught with 50kms to go and Vincent is quickly dropped. At the bottom of the last climb, the front group only has 11 riders left. It’s a steep climb but there are no attacks. Yates takes the sprint ahead of Pogacar and Lopez.
Spoiler
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
6h06'45
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Stage 16
Stage 16 is a mountain stage.
A group of 9 riders go ahead and they quickly get over 10’ on the peloton so this is a stage that will go to the break. Konrad wins the stage ahead of Florez from Androni-Giocattoli and Enric Mas. The favourites arrive 7’ after the winner in one big group.
Spoiler
Patrick Konrad
BORA - hansgrohe
7h08'56
Miguel Eduardo Florez
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
+ 2'12
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 3'27
Daniel Martin
Israel Start-Up Nation
+ 6'31
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 7'55
Domenico Pozzovivo
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Nicolas Edet
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Stage 17
Stage 17 is another mountain stage.
17 riders go in the break, but the peloton keep them on a short leash this time. They don’t get more than 5’. They are caught with 10kms to go and the last climb starts slowly but Pogacar attacks with 5kms to go and takes A. Yates with him. The others can’t follow and they get a decent gap. Pogacar has a little bit more energy to win the sprint. Mollema is third, 32’’ behind the winner.
Spoiler
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
4h54’35
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+32
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 56
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
s.t.
Sergio Andrés Higuita
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
+ 1’39
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 2’02
Stage 18
Stage 18 is a sprinters stage in the middle of the GC battle.
Thomas goes in the break and once again the peloton is not interested as they get a maximum of 16’30’’ on the peloton so once again, the winner will come from the breakaway. De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix), Boivin (Israel Start Up Nation), Cerny (CCC), Godon (AG2R) and Pelucchi (Bardiani) are in the break. These are all OK sprinters, so we will need to be careful of attacks in the last kilometres. De Bondt is the first to attack with around 20kms to go but never gets more than 20’’ and is brought back with about 11kms. He attacks again with 6kms to go but is brought back again so this will go to a sprint, which is won by Godon ahead of Boivin, with Thomas finishing third.
Spoiler
Dorian Godon
AG2R La Mondiale
6h09'43
Guillaume Boivin
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Benjamin Thomas
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Matteo Pelucchi
Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
s.t.
Dries De Bondt
Alpecin-Fenix
s.t.
Josef Cerny
CCC Team
s.t.
Matteo Moschetti
Trek-Segafredo
+ 10'40
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Jasper Philipsen
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Stage 19
Stage 19 is a mountain stage and one of the last chances for the GC riders to make their mark. There are only 3 stages left, including a TT to finish the race.
With 6 kms to go, Lopez attacks and Pogacar is the only one who can follow. They create a decent gap but Lopez seems to have wasted too much energy as Pogacar drops him with a kilometer to go. He wins by 17’’ and these two create a big gap to the rest of the favourites. As a result, Pogacar takes the leader’s jersey, 49’’ ahead of A. Yates and 1’07’’ on Lopez.
Spoiler
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
4h06'05
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+ 17
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
+ 51
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'20
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 1'33
Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Miguel Eduardo Florez
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
+ 2'38
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Stage 20
Stage 20 is a brutal stage to end the climbing in this race. 197 kms with three Cat 2 climbs and a Cat 1, with a small, but steep final climb, the Croce d’Aune, 5.3 kms at 9.2% average.
This is the last chance for some before the TT. Vincent makes it into the break, but he has great company with Kruijswijk, Dan Martin, Woods, Sivakov, Mas and Ciccone. They already have over 9’ at the top of the first climb, so it looks like the winner could come from this group. But with these riders, it will be extremely difficult for Vincent. And it is, when on the third climb of the day, the Passo Rolle, Vincent is dropped after an acceleration from Woods. The main guys from the breakaway are up front and Vincent isalmost 4’ down. At the top of the penultimate climb, Kruijswijk accelerates with Ciccone behind him. They have a 23’’ lead on the other breakaway riders at the bottom of the last climb. In the meantime, Pozzovivo attacks at the top of the penultimate climb, with Lopez and Pogacar in his wheels. They are caught by A. Yates. With 3.2 kms to go, Lopez attacks and Pogacar and Yates follow.
With 1.3kms to go, Yates is dropped by his 2 companions. At the front, Kruijswijk wins the stage ahead of Ciccone.
A. Yates explodes and arrives a minute behind Lopez and Pogacar. Leading to the last day, Pogacar has pretty much got the GC sewn up. He is 1’07’’ ahead of Lopez and 1’49’’ ahead of A. Yates, with Bernal fourth, over 3’.
Unfortunately, we lose Guarnieri, one of 11 riders to come in outside the time limit.
Spoiler
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
6h20'07
Giulio Ciccone
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Michael Woods
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 21
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
+ 31
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1'23
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Daniel Martin
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 2'12
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 2'23
Egan Bernal
Team INEOS
+ 3'04
Stage 21
Stage 21 is the final TT in the streets of Verona.
Except for a catastrophe, Pogacar will win his first Grand Tour. And there are no surprises. At the first time cut, Pogacar has the second best time, 4’’ behind Sivakov. These two stay in these positions at the finish line, with Zakarin third. Lopez finishes 5’’ behind Pogacar while A. Yates loses 42’’. So Pogacar wins his first Grand Tour, the first of many you would think.
During the Giro, the team participates in some races and Sarreau wins stage 1 of the Vuelta a Aragon.
The Tour de l’Ain also happens at that time and it’s an objective for the sponsors. However, it’s decided that Frankiny will be the leader, with Geniets, Le Gac and Guglielmi in support in the mountains. There are 3 stages and the last two stages are mountain stages.
Stage 1 is a sprinters stage won by Consonni ahead of D. Van Poppel and Coquard.
Stage 2 is a mid-mountain stage. Oomen wins the stage 36’’ ahead of Skujins, Paret-Peintre, Frankiny and Herrada.
Stage 3 is the queen stage. A short stage of only 119kms but ending with the 17kms ascent of the Grand Colombier. Frankiny has 46’’ to make up on 8 riders in order to win the race so he tries several attacks that come to nothing. To make things worse, he runs out of steam 2kms from the finish and ends up losing another minute on the favourites. Combaud wins the stage from the breakaway ahead of Debesay (from the development team) and Skujins.
Oomen wins the GC ahead of Skujins and Paret-Peintre. Frankiny is ninth in the GC.
Criterium du Dauphine
The next objective is the Criterium du Dauphine. Another big objective for the sponsors. It’s Pinot’s last race in his Tour de France preparation. Groupama sends its strongest team, hoping for a Pinot win.
Team: Pinot, Gaudu, Reichenbach, Madouas, Frankiny, Molard, Kung and Ludvigsson.
Luckily for the team, it’s not the strongest startlist. No big GC names are here except for Fuglsang and Bardet.
Stage 1 is a fairly hilly stage.
The aim is to bring Pinot safely at the finish line without any problems and without losing time. It’s mission accomplished. Mohoric wins the stage ahead of Fraile and Cosnefroy. He takes advantage of the lack of fast men. With only two stages for the sprinters, none of the big names are around. Consonni is probably the best sprinter there.
Spoiler
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
3h56'28
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Benoît Cosnefroy
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Kaden Groves
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Alexander Vlasov
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Stage 2 is another hilly stage, but fairly flat towards the end, so the same riders should be battling for the win.
9 riders go in the break and they are caught just before the last climb. At the top of the climb, Pinot places a small attack but AG2R bring it back fairly quickly. Like on stage 1, Mohoric wins the sprint ahead of Fraile and Cosnefroy, so the same podium two days in a row. Pinot is safely in that front group.
Spoiler
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
4h51'03
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Benoît Cosnefroy
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Roman Kreuziger
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Dylan Teuns
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Stage 3 is the first of only two sprinters stage of the race.
Consonni easily wins ahead of Bol and Cimolai.
Spoiler
Simone Consonni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
4h01'36
Cees Bol
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Davide Cimolai
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Manuel Belletti
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
s.t.
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Stage 4 is a 26.1 kms ITT with a hill in the middle, but it should go to the TT specialist.
Indeed it does with Campenaerts winning the stage ahead of Ganna and Rosskopf. Pinot finishes 17th, 58’’ behind the winner. Kung is our best placed rider, in 7th place, 26’’ behind the winner.
Spoiler
Victor Campenaerts
NTT Pro Cycling
37'22
Filippo Ganna
Team INEOS
+ 7
Joey Rosskopf
CCC Team
+ 9
Edoardo Affini
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 19
Chad Haga
Team Sunweb
+ 22
In terms of GC, Bardet is the best placed, in 8th place, 41’’ behind Campenaerts, with Fuglsang, 2’’ behind him and Pinot 17’’ behind his French rival.
Stage 5 is the other sprinters stage.
This time, Mohoric wins the sprint ahead of Consonni and Belletti. This is Mohoric’s third win in this Criterium du Dauphine.
Spoiler
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
4h50'18
Simone Consonni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Manuel Belletti
Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec
s.t.
Rudy Barbier
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Kaden Groves
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Stage 6 is another hilly stage, but with the difficult Cote de Beaune with 7kms to go to the finish line. This will be the first time, the GC will be played in the mountains. The start of the stage is brutal. The peloton does not let any breakaway go for the best part of 75kms and several riders are dropped by the unrelenting pace of the peloton who are making things difficult for some GC teams, including Groupama-FDJ. At the bottom of the last climb, the front group has only 40 riders left, on what has been, on paper at least, some fairly straightforward climbs. Some riders already find themselves almost an hour behind the peloton. Teuns attacks a couple of times during the climb but is brought back by AG2R. Then Pinot attacks with 1kms to go. Only Bardet can follow and before starting the descent to the finish line, they have 18’’ on the rest of the pack.
But Bardet is a much better descender than Pinot and he takes a lead that allows him to win the stage. Pinot is second and has been pegged back by Fraile and Mohoric.
Spoiler
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
6h07'08
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Stage 7 is the Queen’s stage.
A short stage, 117kms only, but including 3 Cat 1 climbs and an HC climb to finish, we’re hoping Pinot can show he is the best rider in this race. It’s a predictably hard race, but with 50kms to go, Pinot is part of a fall of around 15 riders. He is up quickly and the whole teams goes back to help him. By the time the team has regrouped, he is about 3’ behind the other favourites.
First Ludvigsson works hard on the flat, then the climbers take turn to bring Pinot back to the main group, 1.1kms before the top of the penultimate climb. But it has taken a lot of hard work to come back and we’re hoping that we won’t have to pay for this later on.
With 10kms to go, Hamilton attacks followed by Bardet. With Pinot tired from chasing the peloton after his fall, he decides not to follow but to climb at his own pace. A second group creates himself with Pinot, Kreuziger, Fuglsang and Chad Haga. Haga is quickly dropped while Masnada sprints pass the group and takes with him Kreuziger and Fuglsang. Pinot accelerates a bit and quickly closes the gap to the front 5 who are now observing each other. The pace in the front group drops which allow Pinot to recuperate but another group of 6 riders join the front group. With 3kms to go, Hamilton ups the pace and starts dropping riders from the front group. With 1.8kms to go, Bardet attacks.
No one can follow but Pinot accelerates and drops Fuglsang and Hamilton. Bardet wins the stage, with Pinot 26’’ back.
Spoiler
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
4h29'50
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 26
Lucas Hamilton
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'04
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'17
Fausto Masnada
CCC Team
+ 1'55
Roman Kreuziger
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Jonathan Castroviejo
Team INEOS
+ 2'21
Dylan Teuns
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 2'38
James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 2'55
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
On the GC, Bardet now has a 51’’ lead on Pinot with one stage to go.
Stage 8 is another short stage, 112kms, but not as difficult as the previous one, so it will be difficult to make the time on Bardet.
Molard and Reichenbach go in the break hoping to help Pinot in the closing stages.
With 5kms to go on the penultimate climb, Pinot attacks to join Molard, who has dropped back from the leading group to be used by Pinot.
Molard does a great job and at the top of the climb, with 11.5kms to go, Pinot has 40’’ on the main group of favourites, and especially Romain Bardet.
Pinot manages to extend his lead on the descent to 55’’ when he reaches to Reichenbach .
The Swiss rider maintains the tempo until Pinot decides to go solo. He catches the two escapees, but by that point Bardet wakes up and makes a lot of time. Bennett wins the stage ahead of Skujins and Pinot.
Spoiler
George Bennett
Team Jumbo-Visma
3h22'28
Toms Skujins
Trek-Segafredo
+ 7
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 21
Roman Kreuziger
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Spoiler
GC
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
32h16'55
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 33
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'58
Lucas Hamilton
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'59
Roman Kreuziger
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 2'27
Dylan Teuns
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 4'49
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
+ 5'12
Fausto Masnada
CCC Team
+ 5'49
Tony Gallopin
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 5'52
Jonathan Castroviejo
Team INEOS
+ 6'04
POINTS
Matej Mohoric
Team Bahrain McLaren
69
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
48
Simone Consonni
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
37
MOUNTAIN
Jelle Wallays
Lotto Soudal
36
Giovanni Visconti
Vini Zabú - KTM
34
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
32
YOUTH
Lucas Hamilton
Mitchelton-Scott
32h18'54
James Knox
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 5'03
Alexander Vlasov
Astana Pro Team
+ 13'45
TEAM
AG2R La Mondiale
97h09'34
Astana Pro Team
+ 2'11
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 4'54
It’s a disappointing end to the race, as we were hoping for a GC win due to the lack of big names. But we can count ourselves lucky that Pinot did not get badly injured on stage 7 and was able to carry on, even though the chase cost him some time on the last climb. We were quite strong, so we’re hoping that we can carry this over to the Tour and win the race.
With the Dauphine the main objective of the team and with the Giro just finished, Groupama-FDJ sends an experimental team to the Tour de Suisse. The aim for the race will be to try and get the KoM jersey with Frankiny is his home race.
Team: Sarreau, Frankiny, Lienhard, Ladagnous, Le Gac, Scotson and Guglielmi
Stage 1 is a 8.9kms ITT, which is won by Dennis ahead of Dowsett, Schachmann, T. Martin and Lampaert.
Stage 2 is a hilly stage. Pogacar continues his great form from the Giro and wins the stage ahead of his team mate Rui Costa, Alaphilippe, Konrad and Betancur.
Stage 3 is a sprinter’s stage and Sarreau almost creates a surprise. He finishes 2nd to Sagan but beats Groenewegen and Kristoff who started their sprints too early.
Stage 4 is a hilly stage which is won by Wellens ahead of Alalphilippe and Pogacar. Frankiny tried to follow Wellens’ attack but ran out of energy and could not follow for very long.
Stage 5 is another hilly stage but not as difficult as the previous one as a lot of sprinters are left at the end of the stage. Sagan wins ahead of Ewan and Kristoff. Lienhard does well to finish 4th.
Stage 6 and 7 are two mountain stages with mountain top finishes. Once again, Pogacar shows he is the best, by winning both stages.
Stage 8 is an ITT won by Dennis ahead of Lampaert and Bevin.
Stage 9 is the queen’s stage, won by the break. Betancur is quicker in a sprint from a small group of 3. He wins ahead of Mader and Majka.
Spoiler
GC
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Emirates Team
30h32’44
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck – Quick Step
+ 1’38
Rui Costa
UAE Emirates Team
+ 2’23
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 2’24
Rohan Dennis
Team INEOS
+ 2’38
National Championships
Just before the Tour de France starts, the National Championships take centre stage. Always an important part of the calendar for the team, and Marc Madiot in particular, we're hoping to get a few National champions.
Groupama-FDJ is off to a great start as Ludvigsson destroys everyone in Sweden by winning the ITT by a 3’ margin on his main rival, Kim Magnusson.
In France, B. Thomas finishes 3rd and Armirail finishes 4th in a TT won by Latour with Alaphilippe second.
And in Switzerland, Groupama-FDJ also win the race. However, Kung is not the expected winner. Not on a good day, he can only finish fourth, 35’’ behind the winner, Reichenbach, with Dillier and Hirschi completing the podium.
There is more success in Switzerland and Sweden with Lienhard and Ludvigsson both winning the road races.
Lienhard crossing the line first in Switzerland
Ludvigsson easily winning the Swedish Road Race after attacking with 7kms to go.
In France, Madouas wins the title ahead of Alaphilippe.
While in Holland, Sinkeldam creates probably the biggest surprise of the national road races by winning the sprint from a small break of 5 riders. He follows an attack from Langeveld with around 5kms to go, with Dumoulin, Terpstra and Marten Kooistra. Jumbo-Visma completely messed up and Groenewegen was left alone with around 15kms to go, so did not want to take the responsibility of chasing the Langeveld attack, on a parcours as flat as you can imagine in Holland and therefore, a race he should have won easily.
And finally, Geniets wins the Luxembourg road race after going in the right break with 3 Leopard Pro Cycling riders. He shows his strength against admittedly inferior riders, by placing an attack with 5kms to go, which the Leopard riders can't reply to.
The biggest race in the cycling calendar is here and with it, the main objective of our season. Pinot has had a solid season winning the Ruta del Sol, finishing 5th at Paris-Nice, 3rd at the Volta a Catalunya and 2nd in the Criterium du Dauphine. We would have loved to win a big stage race to add to his palmares but we haven’t been able to this season, but we are hoping this will be it. Last year, Pinot came within a couple of days of potentially winning the Tour. He was the best climber in the Pyrenees but got injured in the Alps. But it showed that, without any issues, Pinot could be a real threat to win the race. As expected, it’s a team totally built around him that goes to Belgium for the Grand Depart, with his mountain train and three rouleurs who will help in the TTT but also keep him safe in the flat stages.
Team: Pinot, Gaudu, Reichenbach, Madouas, Molard, Kung, Thomas and Armirail.
As expected, Pinot will compete against some of the best stage racers. INEOS bring Carapaz, Thomas and Froome, while Jumbo-Visma bring Roglic, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk and Trek-Segafredo have their trio of Nibali, Mollema and Porte. Landa is Bahrain’s leader, A. Yates leads Mitchelton-Scott. Buchmann leads BORA-hansgrohe, Mas and Soler are there for Movistar while the other French teams will be represented by Bardet for AG2R and Barguil for Arkea (Quintana is injured and is missing).
In terms of sprinters, there are some great fastmen in Gaviria, Sagan, Bennett, Ewan, Kristoff, Jakobsen and Viviani.
There are also some of the best classics riders such as Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Bettiol, Gilbert, Van Avermaert, Stuyven, Fuglsang, Benoot, Terpstra and Valgren.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is a sprinters stage in Belgium.
Thomson and Stockbro (NTT), Zakharov and Natarov (AST), Peak (MIT) and Torres (MOV) are the first riders to get in a breakaway. They get caught with around 25kms to go and the sprint trains get into place. Armirail and Kung are protecting Pinot who is at the front of the peloton. Gaviria wins the stage ahead of Ewan, Viviani, Barbier and Van Avermaet. Pinot finishes safely in the peloton.
Spoiler
Fernando Gaviria
UAE Emirates Team
4h54’16
Cale Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t
Rudy Barbier
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
s.t
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t
Jasper Stuyven
Trek-Segafredo
s.t
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t
Stage 2
Stage 2 is a 26kms TTT.
Jumbo-Visma, INEOS and Deceuninck-Quick Step are the favourites, but withth riders such as Kung, Armirail and Thomas here, we are hoping we can get a decent result and not lose too much time.
Deceuninck are one of the first couple of teams to start, so Groupama-FDJ will be able to compare and have a decent idea of how they will be doing for the stage. At the first intermediate point, FDJ is 11’’ behind Deceuninck’s time. At the second intermediary point, the team is 33’’ behind the Belgian team and they eventually finish 47’’ back, behind the leaders. The last two teams are INEOS who beat Deceuninck’s time by 7’’ and Jumbo Visma who also beat the best time by 6’’. As a result, Pinot loses just over a minute on the Jumbo guys and a bit under a minute on the INEOS trio. It’s a poor performance for the team. Unfortunately, Kung, our main engine for the TTT, is not in his best shape. It seems that his fitness peak is far away, so hopefully he will be useful in the later stages.
Spoiler
Team Jumbo-Visma
29'31
Team INEOS
+ 6
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 14
Movistar Team
+ 33
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 41
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 43
Team Sunweb
+ 53
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 1'01
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'07
CCC Team
+ 1'10
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 1'14
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'22
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 1'26
Team Total Direct Energie
+ 1'29
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 1'32
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 1'42
Lotto Soudal
+ 1'43
UAE Team Emirates
+ 1'50
B&B Hotels - Vital Concept p/b KTM
+ 1'53
Israel Start-Up Nation
+ 2'03
Team Arkéa Samsic
+ 2'15
Stage 3
Stage 3 is a hilly stage, with an uphill finish, the Rue des Coteaux, 600 meters uphill sprint, averaging 6%.
7 riders go in the breakaway and their lead go up and down but they are caught at the top of the second categorised climb of the day, with 24kms to go.
On the last categorised climb, Van Aert accelerates with Kwiatkowski in his wheel which creates a group of 21 riders at the front including Pinot, Gaudu and Madouas. They have 25’’ lead on a second group which include some of the favourites like Yates, Froome, Landa and Kruijswijk.
Gaudu and Madouas go to the front of the group but Mitchelton bring the two groups back together with 7kms to go. On the next climb, Madouas and Molard are protecting Pinot while Gaudu attacks trying to go for the stage.
Alaphilippe counters with the Groupama riders behind him and several Jumbo Visma. Unfortunately he is caught with 800 meters to go and Grondahl Jansen wins the stage ahead of Stybar and Roglic.
Gaudu finishes 5th, while Pinot safely finishes in the front group. Nibali finishes in a second group 28’’ behind the winner.
Spoiler
Amund Grøndahl Jansen
Team Jumbo-Visma
5h20'14
Zdenek Stybar
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Stage 4
Stage 4 is a sprinters stage.
Thomas goes into the day’s break with 5 other riders, Will Clarke (TFS), Rutsch (EF1), Fominykh (AST), Donovan (SUN) and Morice (VCB). They get caught with around 25kms to go and Thomas gives it another go. He stays alone up front for another 10kms or so but is eventually caught. So in the sprint, Gaviria wins again ahead of Bennett and Sagan.
Stage 5
Stage 5 is a puncher stage with a couple of Cat 2 climbs in the last 40 kms.
Only 2 riders are allowed in the break by the peloton and they get a maximum of 6’. On the penultimate climb, Pinot accelerates which creates a gap at the top of the climb. Some favourites are caught, including Dumoulin, Nibali and Froome and they find themselves 49’’ behind.
Porte works hard to bring Nibali to the front group and the junction is made at the bottom of the final climb. Groupama are working hard at the front of the leading group and Molard accelerates with Pinot in his wheel. He creates a little gap and then Pinot accelerates himself.
He has 25’’ on the chasers but he is caught by the group behind him with 5kms to go on the flat. However, A. Yates and Dumoulin are over a minute behind so he continues to work to gain some time on these two. At the finish line, Alaphilippe wins the sprint ahead of Van Aert and Van Avermaet.
Spoiler
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
4h15'41
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
s.t.
Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 29
Jan Tratnik
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 53
Before the first mountain stage and the arrival at La Planche des Belles Filles, here is how the GC looks like.
Spoiler
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
20h15'09
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 3
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 10
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 15
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 18
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 39
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 45
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 48
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 1'05
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 1'06
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'11
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
+ 1'17
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
+ 1'33
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
+ 1'41
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'43
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
+ 1'50
Andrey Amador
Team INEOS
+ 2'32
Stage 6
Stage 6 is the first mountain stage and hopefully a stage where Pinot can make up some time back.
11 riders go in the break. At the top of the first categorised climb, they have over 10’ on the peloton, so the winner of the stage will most probably come from that group. With no team wanting to take the responsibility of chasing, the gap with 30kms to go is 14’28’’.
On the penultimate climb, Groupama-FDJ goes to the front and accelerate with Molard. He sheds the peloton to around 70 riders.
At the front, Van Gestel attacks at the bottom of La Planche des Belles Filles and wins the stage.
In the group of favourites, Landa attacks at the bottom of the climb as well with Thomas and Buchmann. Gaudu brings the main group back and Landa attacks again. He has 15’’ on the favourites who are mainly together.
He is caught with 400 meters to go and Pinot wins the sprint out of the favourites. It was a short climb with several attacks so Pinot could not gain any time, but he looked good and had enough in the tank to win the sprint from the favourites, while the others were flagging, so it bodes well for the rest of the race.
Spoiler
Dries Van Gestel
Team Total Direct Energie
5h13'38
Matthew Holmes
Lotto Soudal
+ 4'00
Quentin Jauregui
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Travis McCabe
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 5'48
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 6'24
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
+ 6'39
Richie Porte
Trek-Segafredo
+ 6'52
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Jay Thomson
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Dumoulin, Nibali and Yates lose over 2’. The latter 2 are feeling the fatigue from the Giro and are pretty much out of contention already, while Dumoulin does not seem in form.
After the first Mountain stage, it’s obvious that Roglic is the main man for Jumbo while Thomas and Carapaz are the main threats from INEOS. Buchmann and Landa also look like dangerous rivals, so it promises a great race.
Stage 7
Stage 7 is a sprinters stage.
4 riders go in the break, including Van Gestel, the KoM leader looking to increase his lead a little more. He does that and also keeps the peloton at bay until 11kms from the finish when the sprinting trains catch him. Deceuninck do a marvellous job to put Bennett in the perfect condition for him to win the sprint. It’s an easy win for him.
A huge breakaway of 31 riders goes clear and little by little, riders are swallowed up by the peloton. On the last categorised climb, Gaudu attacks and quickly gets around 25’’. He continues to extend his lead and has up to 45’’.
He flags a bit at the end, but despite a counter attack from Barguil and De Plus, he can’t be caught and wins the stage with a 20’’ lead from the main group, in which Pinot is safely in.
Spoiler
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
5h36'43
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 20
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Alexey Lutsenko
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Alberto Bettiol
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Stage 9
Stage 9 is another hilly stage.
This time it’s 24 riders in the break and they are all caught before the last climb. With 1.5 kms to go on that climb, Mas attacks with Sagan in his wheel, but Sagan is dropped. Pinot also attacks with 500meters to go and he takes Roglic and Carapaz, Sagan and Van Avermaet with him.
Unfortunately, he is dropped in the descent and caught by the group of favourites behind him.
Mas goes on to win the stage ahead of Van Avermaet, Carapaz and Roglic. That group gets a 29’’ advantage on the following group.
A disappointing stage as Pinot loses some more time on two of his main rivals.
Spoiler
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
4h12'14
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 29
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Iván García Cortina
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Søren Kragh Andersen
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Dries Van Gestel
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Stage 10
Stage 10 is a flat stage.
This time, only 2 riders are allowed away. Rossetto and Haga are the men trying to trick the peloton. Haga is caught with 15kms to go, while baroudeur extraordinaire Rossetto is only caught with 4kms to go. This time, Sagan is the quickest, winning ahead of an incoming Bennett that could have almost won the stage. Pinot is safely in the peloton, marshalled by Armirail and Kung.
Spoiler
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
5h44'38
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Mike Teunissen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Fernando Gaviria
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Rudy Barbier
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Philippe Gilbert
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Stage 11
Stage 11 is the last sprinters stage before the Pyrenees.
6 riders go in the break but the peloton has them on a short leash as they never get more than 2’30’’, and they get caught with 25kms to go. The pace drops a bit until 15kms from the finish line when the sprint trains really get into their groove. Ewan is the day’s winner after it looked like Gaviria was going to win again, but he ran out of steam with 200 meters to go.
Spoiler
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
3h53'55
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Fernando Gaviria
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Mike Teunissen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Rudy Barbier
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Luke Rowe
Team INEOS
s.t.
Philippe Gilbert
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Stage 12
Stage 12 is the first mountain stage in the Pyrenees.
It has two Cat 1 climbs, with the Peyresourde and the Hourquette d’Ancizan, the final climb coming with 30kms to go. With about 30kms of descent until the finish line, hopefully we’re not going to lose anymore time today, as it’s something that has already cost us during this race. A huge breakaway of 25 riders go clear very early, but Jumbo Visma are very alert and allow them a maximum of 5’. INEOS take things into their own hand at the bottom of the Peyresourde climb and at the top, the peloton has shed to only 41 riders. With 1km to go to the top of the Hourquette d’Ancizan, Pinot attacks and gets 16’’ but is caught in the descent.
Gaudu and Madouas are still in that group. With 10kms to go, Gaudu attacks and takes his two teammates with him and they quickly get a gap. Gaudu rides full gas for 5kms and Madouas takes the relay.
With 500meters to go, Madouas let Pinot win the stage so he can take the time bonifications. They get 15’’ on the chasing pack behind them.
As a result, Pinot gains a couple of places in the GC.
Spoiler
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
5h23'56
Valentin Madouas
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 15
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Pello Bilbao
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Gregor Mühlberger
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
s.t.
Stage 13
Stage 13 is an ITT.
This is not Pinot’s strong point, but we’re hoping for a good showing and hope that Roglic does not take too much time on us again. It’s a fairly flat TT, so Roglic, Thomas and Evenepoel who are around Pinot in the GC have an advantage going into this stage. This time, Pinot is on a good day and he finishes in the top 10, 43’’ behind Evenepoel and 29’’ behind Roglic. He almost catches Landa, who is the big loser of the day.
Spoiler
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
38'47
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 14
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 19
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 31
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
+ 34
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 36
Richie Porte
Trek-Segafredo
+ 37
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 42
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 43
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
+ 45
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
+ 55
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 58
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Nelson Oliveira
Movistar Team
+ 1'00
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 1'06
Bauke Mollema
Trek-Segafredo
+ 1'13
Søren Kragh Andersen
Team Sunweb
+ 1'19
Pello Bilbao
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 1'20
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
+ 1'24
Here is what the GC looks like after the ITT
Spoiler
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
56h52'15
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 44
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 59
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 1'37
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 1'39
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'45
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 1'49
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 3'34
Pavel Sivakov
Team INEOS
+ 3'56
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 4'14
Stage 14
Stage 14 is a mountain stage, a short one, only 121kms but ending with the Col du Tourmalet.
A. Yates, Nibali, Carthy, Benoot and Le Bon go in the break. It’s a fairly uneventful stage. With 5kms to go, Nibali is 1’15’’ ahead of Yates and Carthy and looks good for the stage win. The group of favourites is 3’49’’ down and nothing much has happened. With 3kms to go, Carapaz ups the pace and drops a few rider. They quickly come back to the front 3, but Nibali wins the stage.
With 500ms to go, Buchmann attacks, followed by Roglic. They drop the rest and finish 16’’ clear of Pinot and 27’’ of Thomas and Carapaz. Roglic gains more seconds on his rivals and is looking good for the final victory. He has 1’11’’ on Thomas second and almost 2’ on Pinot in fifth.
Stage 15 is the third and last mountain stage in the Pyrenees.
This time, 20 riders go in the break with riders such A. Yates, Bardet, Nibali, Mollema, Porte, Fuglsang and Chaves. It’s a hard stage with a lot of categorised climbs and at the bottom of the final climb, the Prat d’Albis, the group of favourites contains only 22 riders, including some riders dropped from the breakaway. They are 4’25’’ behind the leaders, A. Yates and Bilbao. Not much happens on the climb, but they climb very quickly, until 2kms from the end when Carapaz attacks and gets 30’’ on a small group of favourites.
No one can follow, everyone else is at their limit. He wins the stage, 51’’ ahead of Pinot, Yates and Kruijswijk and the rest of the favourites.
Spoiler
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
5h17'51
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 51
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Gregor Mühlberger
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'25
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
+ 1'42
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 2'00
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 2'36
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Pello Bilbao
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 2'49
Esteban Chaves
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 3'13
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 4'26
Hugh Carthy
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
After the Pyrenees, the GC looks like this
Spoiler
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
66h06'40
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 25
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 1'11
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'41
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 1'49
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 4'13
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 5'08
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 5'16
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 5'20
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 5'48
Stage 16
Stage 16 is a sprinters stage.
Armirail goes in the break with Stockbro (NTT), Godon (ALM), Van Gestel (TDE) and Janse van Rensburg (NTT). The peloton is not interested in bringing them back and slowly goes up and up. With 50kms to go, the breakaway has over 15’ on the bunch, so the winner will come from these 5. With Janse van Rensburg in the group and by far the fastest man in the break, Armirail will need to find the perfect time for an attack. There is a small hill with about 10kms to go, so we will have to see if anything can be done there. Armirail decides to attack there, with just under 10kms to go.
He gets a small lead, nothing more than 10’’ but Janse van Rensburg is the only one interested in chasing.
Under the flamme rouge, Armirail has 8’’ on the other 4 breakaway riders and Janse van Rensburg starts his sprint.
As expected, he is too quick and easily overtakes Armirail, who is also overtaken by the other members of the group. Janse van Rensburg wins the stage, with Armirail finishing 5th.
The peloton arrives over 6’ later, with Pinot safely there.
Spoiler
Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg
NTT Pro Cycling
4h30'59
Andreas Stokbro
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Dries Van Gestel
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
Dorian Godon
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Bruno Armirail
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 6'14
Fernando Gaviria
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Elia Viviani
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Alexander Kristoff
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Greg Van Avermaet
CCC Team
s.t.
Wout Van Aert
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Mike Teunissen
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Rudy Barbier
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Luke Rowe
Team INEOS
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Stage 17
Stage 17 is a hilly stage, just before 3 big mountain stages in the Alps.
This one has a categorised climb with 11kms to go, so we will try and gain some time on the other GC contenders. 10 riders go in the break and they get up to 3’50’’. Only 3 of them survive most of the last climb. In a strange repeat from Stage 12, Pinot attacks with 1km to go on the climb, but can only get about 10’’ and is caught in the descent.
With 3.3kms to go, Gaudu attacks with Pinot in his wheel.
They create a gap which allows Pinot to win the stage and takes the bonus seconds too.
The race jury also take the controversial decision to give everyone the same time, even though there is a clear gap between Pinot and the chasers. It’s Pinot’s second stage win, but he doesn’t take much time.
Spoiler
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
5h00'35
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Sam Bennett
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Peter Sagan
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Team INEOS
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Philippe Gilbert
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Anthony Turgis
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Stage 18
Stage 18 is the first of the 3 mountain stages in the Alps. It contains the Col de l’Izoard and the Galibier, with a finish 18kms from the top of the last climb. Time is running out for Pinot and it will be extremely difficult to make that time up.
Gaudu and Madouas get in the break, hoping they can be of help to Pinot later on in the stage. However, Jumbo-Visma aren’t interested and let the breakaway get around 14’30’’. Molard and Gaudu are told to wait for the bunch on the Galibier. They are caught with about 5kms from the top, but Madouas is almost done. Gaudu is on great form and sets a searing pace. With 500ms to go, Pinot uses this as a launchpad and attacks, he takes Carapaz and Landa with him.
They get around 30’’ on the favourites behind them.
At the front of the race, A. Yates wins the stage from the break ahead of Carthy and Pauwels.
Pinot arrives in 8th position, just over 5’30’’ from the winner, with the favourites around 45’’ behind.
Spoiler
Adam Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
6h12'06
Hugh Carthy
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Serge Pauwels
CCC Team
s.t.
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+ 46
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
+ 1'22
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
+ 1'45
Jesús Herrada
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 3'24
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 5'51
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Michal Kwiatkowski
Team INEOS
+ 6'26
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
s.t.
As a result, Carapaz takes the yellow jersey with Roglic 14’’ behind him and Pinot is now third, 1’18’’ back.
Spoiler
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
82h02'46
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 14
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 1'18
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 1'25
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 1'55
Stage 19
Stage 19 is a very short stage, only 94kms, with a mountain top finish on the Col de l’Iseran.
Roglic was showing signs of weakness in that last mountain stage, being at the back of the group of favourites so when Pinot attacked, he could not follow. But Carapaz looks very strong and they both have very strong teams. The group of favourites is always made up of 4 or 5 riders from Jumbo and INEOS, so it will be tough to make that time up, but we will try.
7 riders are in the break and at the bottom of the Iseran, they have around 5’ lead, so the break will win the race. Indeed, Soler wins the stage. A few kilometers before, Carapaz accelerated and was dropping riders after riders. Only Roglic, Landa, Pinot, Buchmann and Thomas can keep up and they slowly catch riders from the break. But it’s impossible for Pinot to attack as the pace is too high, so the group arrive together.
Spoiler
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
3h08'22
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 35
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 1'14
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Michael Woods
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 1'32
Enric Mas
Movistar Team
+ 2'12
Michael Valgren
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
+ 2'33
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
+ 3'11
Jakob Fuglsang
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Richie Porte
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Stage 20
Stage 20, and the final mountain stage, so the last chance for Pinot to overturn things. It' another very short stage, only 56kms, but with a 30kms climb to Val Thorens.
With Carapaz finishing second in the previous stage, he has taken some time bonuses and is now 1’16’’. We will need a miracle to win the race, but we will give everything we have. 6 riders go in the break, but at the bottom of the climb, they only have 42’’ lead, so the favourites are looking at the stage win, with the bonuses that come with it.
With 5kms to go, Pinot accelerates and drops riders one by one. Carapaz gets dropped with about 2.5kms to go and Pinot only has Landa and Roglic with him. With 1.5kms to go, he accelerates a bit more and drops the last riders with him.
At one point he leads Carapaz by 1’16’’ and Roglic by 40’’, but he loses steam towards the last 300meters and they close the gap slightly.
The Frenchman wins his third stage of this year's Tour de France, but in the end, Roglic finishes 27’’ behind Pinot and Carapaz finishes 51’’ behind the Frenchman.
Spoiler
Thibaut Pinot
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
1h57'35
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 27
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 51
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 1'12
Tom Dumoulin
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 1'31
Warren Barguil
Team Arkéa Samsic
s.t.
Remco Evenepoel
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 1'44
Steven Kruijswijk
Team Jumbo-Visma
+ 2'18
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Tiesj Benoot
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
+ 3'08
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Gregor Mühlberger
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 4'13
Marc Soler
Movistar Team
s.t.
Rafal Majka
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 4'37
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
David Gaudu
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
+ 4'48
As a result, Roglic takes the yellow jersey back and with the last stage in Paris, wins the Tour de France for the first time in his career. Carapaz is second 12’’ behind and Pinot stays in third, 35’’ behind the Slovenian. It’s a disappointing end to the race as we were hoping to win and had made this our main objective of the season, but our poor TTT, where the team lost a minute on Jumbo Visma and around 55’’ on INEOS, is what eventually cost us. Pinot could have done with some more help in the mountains. Gaudu did a great job, pretty much always being there until the end, but Carapaz had Thomas, Froome, Sivakov and Kwiatkowski, while Roglic had Dumoulin, Kruijswijk, De Plus and Bennett with them at the business end of pretty much every mountain stages. With the transfer window opening very soon, we’ll be hoping to get some better domestiques for Pinot.
Stage 21
Stage 21 is the final procession to Paris with the sprint on the Champs Elysees.
On the last lap, the Groupama-FDJ train follows the UAE train. As expected, the stage ends in a sprint. The UAE train accelerates with 3kms to go and create a bit of a gap, with Pinot in Gaviria’s wheels. At one point, with about 400 meters to go, Pinot somehow finds himself second but is overtaken and still somehow finishes 5th on the stage, won by Gaviria again, who has shown he was the best sprinter in the race by far.
Between the TDF and the Vuelta, the team participates in minor races in order to give the riders who will go to the Vuelta some race days. There, K. Geniets wins the first stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.
It is also the time when the transfer window opens and rumours go wild. Newspapers announce the likes of Alaphilippe, Van Der Poel and Bettiol to Groupama-FDJ, but these riders are way out of the team’s budget.
There are 12 riders who are out of contract, including important riders such as Demare, Frankiny and Geniets.
On the first day of the window opening, the team announces that Guarnieri, Lienhard and Thomas have renewed their contract while also announcing the signing of 3 young riders. The first is Sylvain Moniquet, a promising Belgian climber who comes from the development team and who has had some good results during the u23 season, as well as a top 10 place in the Classic Loire Atlantique.
The second is Cyrille Lenfant, a 19 year old French classics rider.
The third one is Robin Tabary, a 21 year old puncher who won the u23 race Course de la Paix. He is already a decent puncher, who can also TT and get by in the mountains. Tabary looks like a similar type of rider than Gaudu, but with better TT skills.
Finally, William Bonnet has indicated that he will retire at the end of the season.
Next is the Vuelta. Once again, the team is built around Demare, hoping for a stage win, while Geniets is here to try his luck in the mountains. There is a pretty low level of sprinters. Ewan is the best there, then Demare and Hodeg are a step below. Then there are several sprinters who on their day, could create a surprise in a bunch sprint, like Matthews, Theuns, Garcia Cortina and Bonifazio. So we are hoping for at least one win for Demare.
Team: Demare, Sarreau, Lienhard, Geniets, Roux, Ludvigsson, Brunel and Konovalovas.
GC riders: Bardet, M.A. Lopez, Buchmann, Uran, S. Yates, Landa, Thomas, Bernal, Carapaz, Roglic, Kruijswijk, Nibali and Pogacar.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is a TTT, which is won by INEOS, ahead of UAE and Mitchelton-Scott. Groupama-FDJ finishes 16th, 1'29'' behind the winners.
Spoiler
Team INEOS
19'26
UAE Team Emirates
+ 4
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 8
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Trek-Segafredo
+ 17
Stage 2
Stage 2 is a hilly stage, with a steep climb, coming just over 20kms from the end, which will eliminate a lot of riders.
Instead, the wind causes trouble on this stage. With about 60kms to go, Deceuninck and Sunweb accelerate and the peloton explodes on the road.
Some groups make it back before the climb, but some riders who worked hard to come back struggle during the climb. And as expected, the climb is difficult and at the top, the front group only has about 25 riders left and in the sprint, Matthews is the quickest and wins.
On the GC front, Bernal and Kruijswijk are two of the GC riders caught in the crosswinds and lose 3’52’’.
Spoiler
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
5h14'51
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Laurens De Plus
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Rigoberto Urán
EF Education First Pro Cycling
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
Edoardo Affini
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Stage 3
Stage 3 is a sprinters stage.
5 riders go in the break and Cubero from Burgos-BH does extremely well and is only caught with 2.6kms to go. The Groupama train leads the peloton and Ewan is quite far behind. Sarreau leads Demare who starts his sprint with 1.2kms to go and easily wins the stage ahead of Kluge and Ewan.
Spoiler
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
4h29'41
Roger Kluge
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Ryan Gibbons
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Edward Theuns
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Iván García Cortina
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Niccolo Bonifazio
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
Andrey Amador
Team INEOS
s.t.
Stage 4
Stage 4 is another sprinters stage.
Cubero is again in the break and this time, he is caught with about 5kms to go. Once again, Demare wins the stage ahead of Ewan, in a much tighter sprint than the day before.
Spoiler
Arnaud Démare
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
4h13'17
Caleb Ewan
Lotto Soudal
s.t.
Iván García Cortina
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Ryan Gibbons
NTT Pro Cycling
s.t.
Edward Theuns
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Michael Matthews
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Niccolo Bonifazio
Team Total Direct Energie
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Oliver Naesen
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Hugo Hofstetter
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Stage 5
Stage 5 is the first mountain stage.
7 riders go in the break and they quickly get over 10’ on the break. The winner obviously comes from that break. Piccoli from Israel Start-Up easily wins the stage and takes the leaders jersey.
On the GC front, with 6kms to go, Valverde attacks with Yates and Lopez following and then the group of favourites explodes. Lopez accelerates and finishes 7th. Carapaz arrives 13’’ after, Buchmann arrives 27’’. Roglic and Nibali 46’’, while S. Yates explodes and is 1’17’’ behind Lopez in a group containing Pogacar, Thomas and Landa.
Spoiler
James Piccoli
Israel Start-Up Nation
4h57'41
Jonathan Lastra
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
+ 2'33
Georg Zimmermann
CCC Team
+ 3'28
Samuele Battistella
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 4'16
Brent Bookwalter
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 5'36
Diego Rubio
Burgos-BH
+ 5'44
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+ 6'10
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 6'23
Mads Würtz Schmidt
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 6'37
Guillaume Martin
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
+ 6'56
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+ 7'06
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 7'27
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
s.t.
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Ilnur Zakarin
CCC Team
s.t.
After the first mountain stage, the GC looks like this
Spoiler
James Piccoli
Israel Start-Up Nation
19h15'53
Jonathan Lastra
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
+ 3'16
Georg Zimmermann
CCC Team
+ 3'43
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 5'26
Miguel Ángel López
Astana Pro Team
+ 5'47
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
+ 6'16
Geraint Thomas
Team INEOS
+ 6'30
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
+ 6'33
David De la Cruz
UAE Team Emirates
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 6'38
Mikel Landa
Team Bahrain McLaren
s.t.
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+ 6'47
Emanuel Buchmann
BORA - hansgrohe
+ 7'02
Andrey Amador
Team INEOS
+ 7'03
Chris Froome
Team INEOS
s.t.
Brent Bookwalter
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 7'05
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
+ 7'37
Rigoberto Urán
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 7'47
Jack Haig
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Damiano Caruso
Team Bahrain McLaren
+ 7'55
Stage 6
Stage 6 is a hilly stage with a 5.5kms climb at the end.
Geniets goes in a huge break of 22 riders, but they get caught a few kilometers before the last climb. At the bottom of the climb, Geniets tries a little attack hoping that he will be let go, as he is already 14’ back in the GC, but Valverde follows him and this starts the GC battle. A group of 9 arrive together at the finish line and Lopez wins the stage.
Geniets finishes a creditable 15th, in the same group as Buchmann and Thomas. On the GC front, Carapaz loses 25’’ on Lopez and is overtaken by the Colombian. Piccoli is still in the leader’s jersey.
Spoiler
Miguel Ángel López
Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ
4h57’'29
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
s.t.
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
Julian Alaphilippe
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
s.t.
Guillaume Martin
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
s.t.
Vincenzo Nibali
Trek-Segafredo
s.t.
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo-Visma
s.t.
James Piccoli
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Richard Carapaz
Team INEOS
+ 25
Tadej Pogacar
UAE Team Emirates
+ 48
Stage 7
Stage 7 is another mountain stage with a short, 3.5kms climb at the end, but extremely steep, at an average of 12.2%.
Geniets once again goes in another big break, with 25 riders this time. They quickly get up to 12’ so there is a chance of another stage win. At the bottom of the final climb, the front group is down to 18 riders and they have just over 8’ on the peloton, so the winner will come from that group. There are some decent climbers like Jetse Bol, Dani Navarro, Dyball, Hanninen and De Bod. It’s an extremely steep climb, with a max at 19.1%, so it’s all about pacing ourselves, which Geniets manages to do. With 400meters to go, there are only 5 riders in the front and Poljanski starts his sprint. He takes the lead and starts celebrating, but Geniets and Lastra are closing down so realises that he has not won the stage, which costs him as Geniets just overtakes him on the line and wins the stage. That celebration has cost him the stage win, but we’re not going to complain.
On the GC front, with 600 meters to go, Lopez attacks and gains 11’’ on Carapaz.
Spoiler
Kevin Geniets
Astana Pro Team
5h24'08
Pawel Poljanski
BORA - hansgrohe
s.t.
Jonathan Lastra
Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
s.t.
Jaako Hanninen
AG2R LA Mondiale
s.t.
Lachlan Morton
EF Education First Pro Cycling
+ 13
Lluis Mas
Movistar Team
+ 32
Daniel Navarro
Israel Start-Up Nation
s.t.
Georg Zimmermann
CCC Team
+ 45
Benjamin Dyball
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 53
Michael Gogl
NTT Pro Cycling
+ 1’19
This leads to the first rest day where the team announces that several riders have extended their contracts. In the middle of a great Vuelta, Demare and Geniets are two of these riders. The others are Vincent, Scotson and Armirail.
The team also announces that Marc Hirschi will join the team and expand the Swiss contingent. Hirschi is a good all rounder, primarily a puncher, but is decent in the mountains and in the TT. He is also decent on the cobbles so will be able to help the leaders in various different types of races but will also be able to play his own cards from time to time. Hugo Hofstetter is another rider that will join the team. He will be there to help in the classics and join the Demare sprint train.
![](https://i.imgur.com/YihRh4w.png][/img]</div><div class="tbl-border spoiler2"><div class="sp2head tbl2 sp2is" title="">Spoiler</div><div class="sp2body tbl1">[table100%]Fernando Gaviria UAE Team Emirates 5h15#39;31<br />
Sam Bennett Deceuninck - Quick-Step s.t.<br />
Peter Sagan BORA - hansgrohe s.t.<br />
Elia Viviani Cofidis, Solutions Crédits s.t.<br />
Mike Teunissen Team Jumbo-Visma s.t.<br />
Caleb Ewan Lotto Soudal s.t.<br />
Rudy Barbier Israel Start-Up Nation s.t.<br />
Julian Alaphilippe Deceuninck - Quick-Step s.t.<br />
Geraint Thomas Team INEOS s.t.<br />
Stefan Küng Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ s.t.[/table]</div></div><div style=)
