“It’s a different sprint again,” says Lewis Askey of NSN Cycling Team, who will be riding for Girmay today.
“Some wide roads, leading up to some pinch points. A lot of teams are going to want to be in a good position … all the sprint teams will be thinking the same thing, at the same time … we might have a few more guys in the lead-out than we did yesterday, but it’ll be a similar-ish approach.”
Askey is asked about how teams research the final kilometres for the lead-outs: “We have the videos of everything,” he says. “It’s not that you remember metre-by-metre, but the important things are also getting repeated in your ear [on the team radio].
‘I find it useful to have two or three main points, and if I get those right, everything else will fall into place.
“My focus is follow the guy in front of me, whose job is it to deliver me into the point where I start my job … I focus on his wheel.
“If they do their job properly, I’ll be in the right place to do my job … the hardest thing is getting yourself in that position in the first place.”
Updated
On the telly, they’re discussing the dynamics of the sprint finishes: we’ve had two bunch kicks and two different winners, Olaf Kooij and Tim Merlier. I fancy we’ll see a different winner today, and the pressure is on Philipsen to deliver, likewise Biniam Girmay.
“Hello!” writes Bill.
“Now that Pogacar has gotten his stomp on the race and the winners are all decided, I am thrilled to be looking forward to day after day of thrilling heroics from the breakaway groups.
“As you say, those climbs at the end look very tempting. Apart from the heat, what’s the wind doing? I have only have returned from the French Alps and it’s crazy warm there.”
The wind, good question.
Some photographs from Périgueux:
That was an interesting finish yesterday. It’s true that Merlier showed patience, but on the other hand, he also said he felt he’d been boxed in, that he felt he wasn’t in the perfect position to open up his sprint. Would he have won had he been right on Philipsen’s wheel?
Updated
Points classification: top 10 after stage seven
1) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 204pts
2) Biniam Girmay (NSN) 145pts
3) Max Kanter (XDS Astana) 140pts
4) Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) 134pts
5) Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) 126pts
6) Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 75pts
7) Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) 73pts
8) Olaf Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) 70pts
9) Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) 64pts
10) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) 61pts
2.5km to go. Surely, Alpecin–Premier Tech won’t cock this up again?
Naturally, I am currently watching the TNT Sports stage seven highlights before the start of today’s live coverage. Netcompany Ineos did a lot of work for what turned out to be eighth place for Dorian Godon.
Updated
Will the presence of that uncategorised climb early in the route mean a proper fight to form a breakaway?
Feel free to mail me with your predictions for today, or anything Tour de France-related.
Updated
It’s worth noting that the first part of the stage is not pan-flat. In fact, there are two uncategorised climbs bigger than the categorised ones: the riders will reach a dizzying 261m of altitude at Thenon, after 26.2km, then the top of the climb at Sarlat-la-Canéda looks like it’s nearly the same sort of height.
Preamble
Today’s flat stage is a smidgen longer than yesterday’s – 180km v 175km – and involves a little more climbing: 1150m v 850m.
The presence of two category-four climbs in the latter half of the route may interest potential escape artists: the top of the Côte de Domme comes at 102.6km, while the Côte de Buisson-de-Cadouin crests at 140.4km.
Then again, the green jersey contenders will want to be present and correct at the intermediate sprint between those two climbs, at Saint-Cyprien, after 122.8km.
Let’s be real, though: it will be another day closely controlled by the likes of Alpecin–Premier Tech and Soudal-Quick-Step, setting up Jasper Philipsen, yesterday’s victor Tim Merlier, and the rest of the peloton’s sprinters for a hectic bunch kick in Bergerac.
It will be fast, it will be hot, it will be hundreds of men in lycra riding expensive carbon bikes while shoving ice cubes down their jerseys. It’s the Tour de France.
Neutralised stage start time: 13.15 CET/12.15/BST
Updated
