THE PARCOURS
According to Lotto Soudal’s Belgian Jens Keukeleire, course design proved vital to the vibrancy of the racing this year. “Not so boring eh?” he said, smiling. “I really believe it’s because of the parcours. When you look at the stage profiles there are a lot of teams and riders where you say they will probably go for the stage win today,” he told Procycling on the first rest day at the team’s hotel in Castres. “I would agree with you: it’s been really exciting. It’s been my most enjoyable first week at the Tour.”
Compare it to recent years, he said. “I remember in the past you would have two or three of the long, boring flat stages and this year we had only one. Plus, last year it took nine stages before we had a first real mountain.”
This year, the first mountain came on stage 6 and the so-called ‘Super Planche’ climb, which finished with a kilometre of gravel above the Planche des Belles Filles ski resort in the Vosges. For various reasons, the stage proved inconclusive for the GC, unlike years past in which the yellow jersey has been held here and taken to Paris. A break, the second of the race, contested the win and a third new rider, TrekSegafredo’s Ciccone, took the yellow jersey. When the dust settled, 14 riders were within 2:02 of him. “We saw the best 15 GC riders, but we didn’t really see a big war,” said Keukeleire.
“Before the race had even reached the Massif Central, the peloton had a couple of days where we think this might be a sprint, or something for Alaphilippe. I really noticed it when we had the first look at the parcours this year, that it was going to be a nice first week of the Tour,” the Belgian added.
Arkea-Samsic’s Tour veteran Amaël Moinard said riders were having to work harder and that there was more fatigue building up in the peloton. “The fatigue accumulated at the beginning of the Tour means it’s going to hurt a lot at the end,” the Frenchman, on his 11th Tour, warned. “We’re going to see riders crack.”
Actually, maybe Daryl Impey was right after all.
“When you look at the stage profiles there are a lot of teams and riders where you say they will probably go for the stage win today” Jens Keukeleire, Lotto Soudal