Cycling: The first week of the 2024 Tour de France ends with an extremely exciting section. The professionals now have to prove their skills on gravel roads. Will this stage have a big impact on the overall ranking?
Gravel roads at the Tour de France
Things are going to get uncomfortable at the 2024 Tour de France. The gravel skills of the professionals will be in demand on the 199-kilometer section with start and finish in Troyes. 14 sections with a total length of 32 kilometers stand in the way of the riders, 6 sections are in the last third of the race. So we can expect a gravel spectacle like we know from the one-day races Strade Bianche and Paris - Tours. It is possible that the classified riders sense their chance here to make up time on their opponents.
Velomotion Prognosis: Victory for a Breakaway
Tomorrow, as is often the case, we will see two races in one at the Tour de France. The breakaway group will fight for the day's victory among themselves, while behind them the general classification riders hope and fear not to lose any time to their competitors. Some teams will probably send one or even several riders into the breakaway group. This has several advantages. Firstly, they can possibly fight for the day's victory, and secondly, they could be used as a relay station for their captains. It is known that Tadej Pogacar copes very well with gravel roads and he will certainly dare to attack. But all in all, the gravel sections are not too selective, so there should not be any big gaps. Tough breakaway riders have the best chance of winning the day - and there are a few of them at the Tour de France.
* * * Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious)
** Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Marijn van den Berg (EF Education – EasyPost)
* Tom's Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Magnus Court (Uno-X Mobility)