We’re at Lake Constanze for a third and final time. The eponymous city of Konstanz traces its roots to the first century AD and is also home to Germany’s southernmost university. The finish line is located in another university town, Freiburg, and we expect a second sprint finish in a row. Sam Harrison took over the yellow jersey after a surprising win yesterday and can keep it one more day unless Kemboi redeems himself for his poor ninth place to take the stage win.
Similarly, only one man can take the mountain jersey away from Lukas Postlberger before the cards get reshuffled in the Black Forrest tomorrow, and that’s Vanthourenhout. Let’s see if he tries.
Polar was very aggressive yesterday already with two men in the breakaway, and here again it’s one of their riders going first. This time, it’s Noia.
In uncomfortable conditions, Dal Col and Arensman try to follow him, as is teammate and yesterday’s participant Malori a bit further behind.
Still in the packed streets of Konstanz, Malori is back in the peloton but instead it’s Wright, Knotten and Korsaeth on the move. MOL and ISA, teams of green and yellow jerseys Petit and Harrison, are setting a high pace.
Cepeda Hernandez closes the gap, in the process opening on behind him and leader Harrison, which MOL would soon erase, of course. At the front, Noia tries again.
Just like yesterday, the peloton settles down once it’s just a group of three at the front. These three that will form the breakaway of the day end up being Korsaeth, who made it after his failed attempt yesterday, Arensman and initial aggressor Noia. Polar can rest easy, knowing the KoM jersey remains with the team no matter what.
We actually see one more attack from Christian, but he’s quickly shut down by Nareklishvili and Dima. As you can see, it has started to rain on the shores of Lake Constance.
(I just thought this looked pretty cool.)
We can jump forward to the first mountain sprint of the day on the Côte de Waldfrieden (5.6km at 4.7%), which translates literally to forest peace or peace of the forest. The forest in question is the Black Forest, which the riders enter as we leave Lake Constance behind.
Already within a kilometer of the summit, it’s Korsaeth who accelerates. He’s the quickest of the trio, though Arensman is decisively the best uphill rider.
The incline is up to almost 8 percent near the sprint and Arensman moves closer to Korsaeth, who is a lot of things but not a great climber or puncheur.
Indeed, the Dutch youngster comes away with 6 points, 4 to Korsaeth and 2 to Noia. They have a bit over three minutes on the peloton by this point.
The second climb of the day leads the riders to the small village of Münchingen (7km at 4.4%). By car, it’s just an hour’s ride to Freiburg, but the riders still have almost 90 kilometers left to go – it’ll take a bit longer until they’re in their hotel rooms. Once again, the steepest parts of up to 9% come near the top and this time, Arensman attacks early and from the front. This shouldn’t be a contest.
And it isn’t. Make it 12 points for Arensman, who potentially lays the groundwork for another move tomorrow.
By the time the intermediate sprint in the village of Bärental (valley of bears) comes around, the gap to the peloton is already down to just over a minute. The weather really isn’t doing our plucky breakaway any favors. They’ve got at least this one more effort in them though, approaching the sprint right next to each other.
Korsaeth ultimately takes it pretty comfortably.
In the peloton, many of the top sprinters go for the remaining points - Van Poppel and Petit on the left, Kemboi, Bouglas, Manninen and Moser on the right.
Kemboi takes 2 points, Van Poppel the last one.
Again and again, splits appear in the peloton such as this one with 32 kilometers to go, which leaves most prominently Thijssen and Zariff in a group of 51 off the back. No split is permanent, at least so far, but not a good look for some of these guys. The pressure, like yesterday, comes from Los Pollos Hermanos, Huski Chocolate and De Stijl.
Traditionally, a nearing peloton means attacks up front. With 29 kilometers to go, Korsaeth makes the first move.
He didn’t get away but was at least successful in buying himself and his companions some more time. Inside the final 20 kilometers, when Arensman attacks, they still have 45 seconds on the chasing pack.
Despite going up against two good time trialists, Arensman remains ahead as Noia and Korsaeth are being caught. With 11 kilometers to go, we’ve reached the outskirts of Freiburg.
Arensman would hold on for only a couple more kilometers. It’s on the sprinters now.
5 kilometers to go and yellow jersey Harrison still has a lot of ground to make up. Los Pollos Hermanos and De Stijl have the most cohesive setups so far.
All three of Van Poppel, Harrison and Petit are still pretty poorly positioned with 3 kilometers to go. Kemboi and Manninen are piloted to the front by their teams and Grieg has a really nice train going for Larsen, too.
Other sprinters in the mix include Bouglas on the left and Dainese, Ackermann, Moser and Swift over the middle.
Similar to yesterday, Kemboi gets boxed out a bit. Manninen is in great position behind Sütterlin, though he needs to temper himself to not go too eary. On the right, Kalf brings up Van Poppel.
Under the red kite, the sprinters go for it all! Manninen, Bouglas and Larsen are lined up behind the last two Grieg leadouts, then it’s Van Poppel, Kemboi and Ackermann.
Larsen isn’t the best sprinter, he can’t initially keep up with Manninen and Bouglas.
Manninen holds the smallest of leads over the Greek heading into the final 300 meters. Neither Van Poppel nor Kemboi can make any progress, but who can keep up their pace for the longest?
No one has cracked so far, it’s neck and neck …
… and Matti Manninen makes it over the line! A very strong sprint after a good setup by his team. Bouglas in second and Larsen in third place can be very pleased with their performances though, that Grieg leadout in particular was top notch.
Van Poppel is fourth, Kemboi’s fifth place is an improvement over yesterday but that’s still not what he wants. The rest of the Top 10, in order, are Ackermann, Moser, Dainese, Harrison and Thijssen.
Swift was in a decent position at one point but will ultimately be as disappointed as Petit, who was apparently not boosted by the green jersey. Christian, Peak, Rojus and Zariff complete the Top 15.
Despite his poor sprint, Harrison gets to keep yellow for one more, presumably last, day. Manninen takes over the lead in the green jersey competition, though, where 69 points from the first three stages may not be perfect, but still a nice buffer before someone like Herklotz starts collecting points, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.
Because tomorrow will indeed be the first more demanding stage with two Cat 1, one Cat 2 and another two Cat 3 climbs. Not only will the mountain classification be shaken up massively, but we could also see some GC implications among the major contenders, and most certainly a new GC leader. Much to fight for, much to look forward to. See you then!
Tour de France 
