A view of Lindau Island, where the historic district of the town of Landau is situated.
Having spent our time in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg yesterday – and returning to it over the course of today’s stage –, we start today in Bavaria, more specifically in Lindau on the eastmost shore of Lake Constance. On our way to Konstanz, which lends the lake its name, the riders cross the first four mountain sprints of the race, but overall, the roads are mostly flat and we can expect a sprint finish.
Five sprinters are in range to take over yellow with some bonus seconds: Moser, Petit and Manninen need a stage win for that to happen, while Kemboi and Harrison already take it with a third place – so long as the other doesn’t finish ahead of them and Manninen doesn’t win. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Starting right on the shore of Lake Constance, the peloton takes it easy for a kilometer or two.
But soon enough, we have some attacks! Postlberger is the first breakaway rider of this Tour, Vanthourenhout follows.
Polar doesn’t have a sprinter, so they’re very keen on getting into the breakaway. Malori is on the attack as well!
Arissol leads the next wave alongside Duyvesteyn, Rosskopf, Hosek, Van Moer and Guerreiro. Rucigaj and green jersey Larsen are near the front, too.
None of them get away though. After a brief respite, with the gap of the original three attackers already up to a minute, Havik and Christian try to make the jump.
Hennis, Rosskopf again and Dima try to join them, but the peloton is riding at a high pace.
Indeed, these guys aren’t allowed to break free, either. Korsaeth goes next ...
… but it turns out, he can't get away, either.
It’s De Stijl, Los Pollos Hermanos and Huski Chocolate controlling the pace and they seem very set on allowing no more than 3 riders ahead. With Korsaeth back in the fold, things finally seem to settle down a bit.
This is good news for these guys, too. All that commotion led to a split in the peloton with 87 riders off the back. GC leader Oliveira is in this group as well as sprinters Hsu and Thijssen, but the gap would be closed not long after this.
Back in Friedrichshafen, the location of yesterday’s prologue, the breakaway trio approaches the intermediate sprint with a lead of two minutes on the peloton. Vanthourenhout and Postlberger are the quickest, can Polar make use of their numeric advantages?
Well, it’s just a brute force one on one sprint, not tactics whatsoever, but Postlberger takes it. Malori has to chase a bit but ultimately makes it back.
Two and one point are left for the sprinters in the peloton. Roosen leads out Van Poppel, Bouglas is in the mix as well as Kemboi on the left and Manninen on the right.
Van Poppel wins it, Manninen takes the final point.
Four minutes for the breakaway as they enter the Côte d’Allerheiligen. It’s 3.8 kilometers at 6.9% with some pretty steep sections. Vanthourenhout is the best climbers, but as puncheurs, the two Polar riders are on his level.
Vanthourenhout plays it slow, Postlberger attacks first.
The road flattens towards the summit, Postlberger still leads ...
... and the Austrian wins the first KoM sprint of the race. Malori cracks towards the end, he doesn’t look very good but makes it back after a few kilometers.
A beautiful view for the breakaway as they climb the Sipplinger Berg (5.7 kilometers at 4.8%). The gap is down to 3 minutes with the same teams doing work in the peloton.
Same order towards the mountain sprint, can Vanthourenhout make it to the front this time?
It’s much closer, but Postlberger makes it two for two. He’s in pole position to take the polkadots today now.
Fast forward to the Schienerberg, a shorter 3.6 kilometers but steep at 7.3% on average. Vanthourenhout changes tactics and attacks from the front, Postlberger in his wheel.
Postlberger comes up next to the Belgian, if he wins this, the KoM jersey is secured!
But Vanthourenhout barely keeps him at bay and cuts the lead to 2 points. It comes down to the final mountain sprint.
Malori is done, the climbs were too much for him.
The two leaders manage to keep a gap of one minute on the peloton as they near the final KoM climb. Vanthourenhout needs to win to tie Postlberger on points. Both are also tied on time, so finishing position might decide who wears the polkadots - unless the Austrian simply takes this sprint, of course.
And he does have a bike length on his rival with 700 meters left!
It is once again very close, but Postlberger manages to hold on. We’ll see him on the podium later today! Lopez Nolasco takes one point in the peloton.
With 23 kilometers left, Postlberger goes for the most combative rider award, too. Both will be caught by the peloton soon though.
Postlberger is done with 17 kilometers to go. It’s all up to the sprinters now.
Or is it? Turek attacks with 7.5 kilometers to go! Guerreiro and Cataford lead the chase.
It was a valiant effort, but ultimately came to nothing. Sprint preparations begin and Roosen is once again the main man for Van Poppel. The Dutch is followed by a long line of riders, including Swift, Zariff, Ackermann, Dainese, Rojus and, just outside the frame, Moser, Bouglas, Larsen, Hsu and Peak.
To the right, Bettiol and Wouters lead Kemboi to the front, followed by Thijssen and Petit. Los Pollos Hermanos don’t have their leadout quite right yet, Manninen is on his own on the far side of the road, Harrison is in the mix as well.
3 kilometers to go and the De Stijl train looks very well on the right, as does Swift in Kemboi slipstream. Harrison, Thijssen and Zariff follow Van Poppel, then there’s a bit of a gap to Petit and Manninen.
Roosen hits the front with 2 kilometers to go, that’s usually too early. Kemboi on the other hand still has two men ahead of him. Everyone else is on a long line behind them, Manninen is making his way closer to the front.
The road turns slightly uphill, which pushes everyone back together. Wouters shoots to the front, but Kemboi lost his wheel and is pretty far behind all of a sudden. Van Poppel and Harrison are in the wind with still over 1.5 kilometers to go.
Under the flamme rouge, the front three have a small gap! And that short downhill and 90 degree corner will help them. Remember, Harrison is within 5 seconds of the yellow jersey, this could be huge for him! Thijssen and Dainese are closest, then Manninen, Kemboi and Ackermann.
Out of that corner, Wouters still leads, can he pull off the ultimate upset? Ruiz does a good job bringing Manninen to the front and Petit is quick on the left as well.
Wouters crumbles and Harrison takes a potentially decisive lead! Only Van Poppel can still stop him!
But he doesn’t! ISA - Hexacta’s Grand Tour sprint success story continues with a tactically brillant win from Sam Harrison, who also takes the yellow jersey!
On the last few meters, Van Poppel is beaten by Petit. We can see some gaps opening behind the sprinters, we’ll have to check later if those come to anything.
Manninen finishes 4th, not the start he wanted but a good base to build on in his green jersey bid. Moser is 5th, then Wouters - if only he hadn’t forgotten about Kemboi when he made that big acceleration.
Kemboi instead finishes 9th behind Dainese and Swift. Rojus completes the Top 10 centimeters ahead of Larsen, then it’s Ackermann, Peak, Ruiz and Bouglas to round out the Top 15.
No time gaps are ultimately awarded, but as I’ve mentioned, we still see a change atop the GC. Harrison is the new yellow jersey and thanks to his brilliant prologue, only Kemboi is in a position to take it away from him with bonus seconds tomorrow. The Kenyan and his team showed they’re capable to start their sprint prep well, but they need to be more consistent for that to happen. Harrison also takes charge of the points classification, where Petit is second now and Larsen at least remains third thanks to his 11th place today.
Lukas Postlberger gets to wear the polkadot jersey and with two Cat 3 climbs tomorrow, only Vanthourenhout can challenge him for it. No changes in the youth or team classifications, but we do have a new lanterne rouge, namely Malori, who fell behind after his breakaway efforts. Another three riders lost some time, among them Nareklishvili, who The Manx Missile pegged as one of his lanterne rouge contenders in his preview, so keep an eye out for that young man there.
Another flat stage is on the menu tomorrow before we head on to more challenging terrain. See you once more in Konstanz!
Tour de France 
