We’re back, and back for a sprint by the looks of it. Lets see what the day has in store.

After paying a visit to the site of the Neanderthal man in stage 2 starting from Düsseldorf, the peloton of the Tour de France continues his journey into prehistory with a detour in the north of the Dordogne province nearby the Lascaux caves and the Cro-Magnon paintings after about one hour of racing from Périgueux. It’s a scenic route via Sarlat and the wonderful landscapes of Dordogne. It’s also a nice way for the riders to resume racing after the eventful stage 9, nothing like the individual time trial from Bergerac to Périgueux won by Tony Martin in 2014. GC riders aren’t expected to fight this time as the Pyrenees are looming.

The last kilometre, pan flat.

The Finish: flat. they circle around Bergerac and approach on big main roads. There’s a tight roundabout with 3km to go just before the cross the sleepy Dordogne river and then a wider roundabout on the other side of the bridge and more big roads around town to the flamme rouge. Just after this comes a sharp left-hander followed by another left-hander a couple of hundred metres later before the 500 metre finishing straight. The corners will line things out but nobody will want to come out first from the last bend because it’s too far to the line to lead.

Who’s in the mix?

The Contenders: a sprint finish? Bergerac’s host five Tour stage starts and finishes before but none have ended in a sprint. However this is probably explained by three of these stages being time trials. Certainly the route says yes and so does Herr Kittel but remember there are fewer sprinters left in the race, there are several orphan sprint trains so fewer teams will chase. Quick Step will be confident in Marcel Kittel‘s chances but they’ve already enjoyed plenty of success so the onus is on other squads to take up the chase which in turn only bolsters Quick Step’s chances for the finish.

The two teams with a big interest in the sprint are Lotto-Soudal for André Greipel and Katusha for Alexander Kristoff. Both teams know their sprinters represent their best chance for a win so they’ll work hard at it.

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) might appreciate the corners in the finish as they’ll mix up the bunch but he did mention something the other day about illness. Meanwhile Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-Jumbo) has been thereabouts in the sprints but never in with a chance of victory but as others fall away perhaps he’ll run closer. Finally Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) must be feeling more confident after his near-miss in Nuits-Saints-Georges but he’s without leadout expert Mark Renshaw.

And to finish, a random couple of pics I found mainly around stage 9.
Majka, beaten up.

Dan Martin, not chuffed.

Demare, not in the race.

Jagger/Uran, cool.

Ohh goody, a Sprint finish.

Wanty in the break.

Crash with 200mtrs to go.

Kristoff if Tony can lead him through and over the scattered strewn bodies of the lead Sprinters.

Beautiful area.

This has every chance to be dull as a very dull thing today. I’m hoping the breakaway stays away, even though we all know it won’t. I’m also hoping Kristoff wins the sprint, even though we all know it’ll be Kittel.

Just checked, it’s a sprint day tomorrow too, into the hills Thursday though.

Kind of glad it’s a couple of sprint days. A bit worn out from the drama of the weekend stages.

I don’t know…I’m hoping some GC contenders give it large on the final descent and set off a mad chase.

My favourite part of France this. Dan Macklay for an upset?

Oh God, I’d love a Dan win… 8)

Great part of France. Hopefully the riders are gorging themselves on fois gras before the stage start (it’s fatty, must be a good source of energy, right).

Short stage, not much going on. Hard to see past Kittel winning it really. Which means, no doubt, that Bouhanni will win it.

Seemingly there’s a 90deg and about 120deg corner within the last km so I’d say if someone can get a few seconds clear with a km to go they might just beat the sprint trains.

(Steve, you listening Steve?)

Is Offredo going to have to ride this on his own?

Bouhanni will win it

Urgh I hope not. Greipel or Dan hopefully today.

I wonder when/if we’re going to see a Tony Martin Training Ride(TM) this year at some point?

Right then. I think we can assume nothing will happen now until 15k to go…

Wanty in the break, the pace slow, I reckon some of the teams will have done harder rest day rides.

I really don’t get this. Sure, Wanty should have someone in this pointless break for publicity reasons, but Offredo should be deployed on a day where there is a non-zero chance of the break succeeding.

EDIT: And it was clearly the main goal for them to have him in the break, as he was the first person to shoot out of the bunch when the flag dropped.

Just a thought. I’m not listening to any of the coverage. I just have the feed in a small overlay on my screen. Is Offredo in the break for some specific reason? (to honour something, or it’s his birthday, etc…) They keep focussing on something taped to his top tube.

Nice castle.

Nice castle.

The Chateau de Turzac was particularly fine. About the 140km to go point IIRC

They keep focussing on something taped to his top tube.

“Ride for Antoine” probably,

This castle about 65k to go.

It was this one…

That is Chateau de Beynac on the Dordogne river (just west of la roque gagaec)

Ridiculous power, he just makes everyone else look slow.

This has every chance to be dull as a very dull thing today. I’m hoping the breakaway stays away, even though we all know it won’t. I’m also hoping Kristoff wins the sprint, even though we all know it’ll be Kittel.

So yeah, that was predictable wasn’t it? Fair play to Kittel, he is so strong.

Good ride by McLay. Shot his bolt a bit early when he could see daylight to the finish line.

Good ride by McLay. Shot his bolt a bit early when he could see daylight to the finish line.

I predicted a surprise win by McLay.
I was wrong but at least he was up there. Kittel’s acceleration was immense!

Bah!

That bloke needs guards and some Barlow Pass 30c’s on that Mamil Bike of his. It’s been a while since we’ve seen someone quite so powerful, even without a lead out train. Casquette doffdt Mr kittel.
But.. would Cav have made it or Demare, can’t speculate because neither are around.
Dan.. oh Dannyboy. A little too soon, but my word you are always up there these days. I now wonder just how long you’ll stay at Fortuneo.

What a stunning landscape that region of France is.

The view from the Campsite in Beynac – nice castle

Edit – how do I get an image from flicker onto the forum?

I liked this from inrng…

To watch a sprint is to focus on other riders until suddenly a blue hulk bursts into view for the final seconds.

The green hulk did it a bit differently today but still just as impressive.

That bloke needs guards and some Barlow Pass 30c

He’s already running 26s (which makes sense for someone about 85Kg). Wouldn’t be surprised to see a few on 28s for regular road stages in the near future.

His raw power is just crazy. At the point he hits it, he just goes into another gear compared the rest. If he gets into position and times it right, there is zero chance anyone beats him.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02EgJPUsEjQ[/video]

Wondered why nobody had commented on Bouhanni’s punch.

Then I realised that nobody probably cares about fourth-rate amateur french boxing on a cycling forum.

Wondered why nobody had commented on Bouhanni’s punch.

Missed that. Bit lenient. A comical 1 minute penalty and 200 swiss francs. Didn’t even get put to the back of the stage. Another case of penalising based on the outcome rather than the actual offence.

Amused by this quote from Kittel…

“I think I can say I’m the strongest Marcel ever, I’ve never felt better, I’m in very good condition,” Kittel said taking his first win while wearing the green jersey in this year’s Tour de France.

Can think of Marcel Proust and Marcel Marceau, neither of which put up much of a fight in the strongest Marcel ever competition. Any other contenders?

Ahh, well you don’t want to punish one of your own do you now.

The ASO have a habit of French leniency.

Can think of Marcel Proust and Marcel Marceau, neither of which put up much of a fight in the strongest Marcel ever competition.

Don’t know. I’d bet Marceau could knock Kittel into an (invisible) box.

The ASO have a habit of French leniency.

The Comms are UCI.

Besides, they just threw out the French champ and half his french team for missing the time cut. (something that is not always done)