Cycling: After two hilly stages, there will probably be another mass sprint tomorrow at the 2018 Tour de France. The wind could once again play an important role. The four 90-degree bends in the last few kilometers increase the risk of falling. In addition, the last kilometer is slightly uphill. In our Tour de France Stage XNUMX preview, we get to the bottom of whether Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) can best Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors).
No Easy Approach to the mass sprint at Chartres
As if pulled on a string, the longest stage of the 2018 Tour de France leads from west to east. The start is at 12:05 in Fougères. After 231 kilometers, the finish line in Chartres is expected to be between 17 p.m. and 18 p.m. One will be on the Côte du Buisson de Perseigne mountains Classification fourth category. Then there are still 111 kilometers to drive. 63 kilometers from the finish in Berd'huis there are points for the generally almost flat profile sprint score and 32 kilometers later bonus seconds in Nonvilliers-Grandhoux. The entire time, the sprinter teams should have all breakaways under control. Under normal circumstances we see a mass sprint at the finish. However, a classic sprint royal could be prevented for two reasons: On the one hand, the last kilometer is slightly uphill with an average of two percent and on the other hand, four 7.000-degree corners have to be mastered in the last 90 meters.
Quick-Step Floors has to do the work alone - rightly so!
So far, no sprinter has been able to defeat Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) in a direct duel at the Tour de France. Only on the second stage was the Colombian not at the top of the podium at the award ceremony. There came Fernando Gaviria fell and therefore played no role in the fight for the day's victory. In general, the previous flat stages have shown that the Quick-Step Floors team clearly does the best sprint preparation. However, since the team and Gaviria are so superior themselves, the blue and white men have to organize the tracking work in the peloton almost entirely on their own. sports director Brian Holmes expressed his anger after Gaviria's second win: "I don't know what's going on with them. We were alone most of the time. Don't they want their sprinters to win?” Bora-hansgrohe sports director Enrico Poitschke had the right answer ready: "We didn't want to put in work just for Gaviria to win in the end."
Velomotion prognosis: There is no way around Fernando Gaviria
From a tactical point of view, the fact that Bora-hansgrohe does not take part in the tracking work on a flat stage makes perfect sense. Then Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) is guaranteed not to be interested in a mass sprint against Fernando Gaviria. He is clearly inferior to him on the level. Even if Sagan finishes stage second behind Gaviria, he'll lose a whopping 20 points in the green jersey battle. If Gaviria wants to win the green jersey, his team will have to keep up the pace in the peloton – if necessary all by themselves. They shouldn't get involved in a poker game, because then serial winner Sagan won't let the points ranking be taken away from him. Even if the last 1.000 meters of the seventh stage of the Tour de France have an average gradient of two percent, Quick-Step Floors should once again dominate the sprint preparation. Sagan will be closing in on Gaviria on the uphill home straight, but in our Tour de France preview we claim Gaviria will still take his third stage win.
***Fernando Gaviria
** Peter Sagan, André Greipel
* Sonny Colbrelli, Alexander Kristoff, Arnaud Demare
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