Millau Lavaur
168km Friday, 4 September Start 12:35 Finish 16:29
Starting in Millau and quickly passing beneath the majestic Sir Norman Foster-designed viaduct with its distinctive sail-like piers, this stage through the departments of Aveyron and Tarn should see attention swing back once again to the sprinters.
■ Terrain
Near Castres the route turns towards Lavaur and reaches open countryside where things could get complicated, with the wind potentially coming into play. Echelons could form and the peloton split, so positioning in this section will be vital. Last year, Thibaut Pinot lost more than
■ Stage 7 profile
a minute when rival teams took advantage of a gusting wind on a similar, apparently innocuous stage.
■ Gameplan
If the wind doesn’t get up, this looks like the most straightforward sprint stage of the race so far, which means there’ll be a large gaggle of speedsters eager to make an impression. Their jostling for position will be exacerbated by the presence of the GC favourites who also want to be near the front of the peloton for as long as possible. The result will be a very nervy mass of riders hurtling towards Lavaur. If the wind is blowing, nerves will be stretched a little bit more, each rider determined to stay glued to the wheel in front and not allow a gap to develop that could quickly become a dangerous time-losing gulf.
■ Players
The days when Columbia-highroad or Argos-shimano would line out the bunch for several kilometres to set up, respectively, Mark Cavendish or Marcel Kittel for a sprint finish, are over. Sprint trains still exist, but they operate over shorter distances, getting up to speed inside the five-kilometre mark and often far later. This can change, though, when it’s windy and teams smell an opportunity to drop key rivals, whether sprinters or GC contenders. Ineos Grenadiers have become particularly adept at this, with Luke Rowe usually calling the shots. Sensing a change in the wind direction, or noticing a rival who’s poorly positioned, the Welshman will appear at the front, his team-mates on his wheel, his face a grimace contorted by a wicked smile.