- This topic has 96 replies, 33 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by .
-
Tour de France Stage 9 – Arras Citadelle > Roubaix
-
Posted 5 years ago
Finally, finally, after far to many sprint stages, we get something interesting, cobbles. Lovely. Big love, as ever to INRNG for most of the text and CyclingTips for most of the images, both damn fine websites in their own right and well worth a visit.
A Tour de France stage hasn’t featured as many cobblestones since stage 12 from Compiègne to Roubaix in 1981 that had 27.1km of pavés divided in 27 sectors. Stage 9 includes 15 of them from km 47.5 to 8km to go, for a total of 21.7km non asphalted. The finish is located on the avenue Maxence Van der Meersch near the legendary velodrome and its indoor version “Le Stab”. It’s the most feared stage for the GC contenders. They can lose a lot of time and illusions before reaching the mountains. Some Paris-Roubaix specialists may have to look after their captains rather than hunt for a prestigious stage win: Sep Vanmarcke for Rigoberto Uran, Oliver Naesen for Romain Bardet, Matt Hayman for Adam Yates, Gianni Moscon for Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas who is second on GC and likely to take advantage of this specific stage to definitely position himself as a potential winner of the Tour de France. It’s shorter than a classic and many ingredients are different but it’s a spectacle not to be missed!
All very fluffy from the Tour website, INRNG have a better intro in my opinion.
The Route: 156km and packed with pavé. Normally the Tour borrows a few sections of cobbles, for example 13.3km in total during a long stage in 2015. This time it’s 21.7km, way more than recent editions. It’s also borrowing several of the harder sections and the final sector comes just 6km from the finish. It’s as close to remake of Paris-Roubaix as you can get within reason during the Tour de France but at 156km it’s 100km less and this will make the stage more explosive.
As ever the cobbles are dramatic and strategic but the approach matters too, a sprint among riders to get into position each time. The first sector comes after 47.5km and the race takes the Route Nationale out of Cambrai, a big wide road that’s downhill before a sudden fork to the left onto the cobbled track. This entry is fraught with risk, the peloton will bear down at speed on a wide road and suddenly there’s only room to ride 2-3 abreast on the cobbles. Appropriately enough the sector ends next to a chapel called Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.
Readers will recognise the names like Pont Thibault, Cysoing and Mons-en-Pévèle but note they’re not always the same as Paris-Roubaix, for example Mons-en-Pévèle is reduced from 3,000 to 900m, still plenty.
The Finish: flat and tarmac. The finish is outside the Roubaix velodromes, not on the track and nor is the approach the same as in April. There’s a left hand bend before the flamme rouge, a right hander just under the kite and then another right-hander with 400m to go.
Relatively flat finish.
The contenders? Will, INRNG is on the fence here, as rightly said, will the classics guys be on domestique duties and allow an unexpected rider to take it?
The Contenders: there are several classics contenders in the bunch who are going to be on team duty today but this need not rule them out. Their job today is to tow their leaders into position and if done well then it means they’ll be in the front group coming into Roubaix. Still those without responsibilities can save themselves rather than close gaps all day. This makes Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) the obvious pick, he can go for the stage while others in his team can shepherd Rafał Majka the best they can.
Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) is a potential Paris-Roubaix winner and this stage suits him but can he stay in contention? Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) is similar and Cofidis are based near the finish so he and others will be active unlike recent stages were the red jerseys have been hard to spot.
Will John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) be able to ride for himself. If he doesn’t have to protect Bauke Mollema then he’s in with a chance in the sprint. A similar story with Daryl Impey at Mitchelton-Scott.
Quick Step will try to get Fernando Gaviria in contention for the finish but the likes of Niki Terpstra and Yves Lampaert can play their own cards if the Colombian struggles but again this isn’t Paris-Roubaix with its 250km, it’ll be much harder for them to escape today as the peloton will be more lively and neither packs much of a sprint, perhaps Philippe Gilbert can play his card and Bob Jungels too.
Another test of team ambitions is with BMC Racing. Greg Van Avermaet is a likely stage winner and with the yellow jersey he’s got an extra right to defend his race lead for one more day. But Richie Porte needs all the help he can get to defend his chances.
Among the GC contenders it’s hard to see them winning the stage but they finish the day in a winning position. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has the comparative advantage, this is the terrain he can exploit better than the rest, especially since Chris Froome has a saddle sore and that’s not going to heal today and Sky will look to deploy all their riders to shake things up. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) seems in his element too thanks to two flamboyant rides over the Tour’s pavé and the likes of Jacob Fuglsang (Astana) should fare well too but there’s an element of risk, a lottery. So the secondary competition today isn’t the stage win but to get ahead, stay out of trouble and, whisper it, hope that their rivals exactly the nightmare day they’ve been dreading. A puncture, a crash or just a gap opening up on one cobbled sector and suddenly someone aiming for the GC is losing time before they’ve even reached the first mountain stage.
Finally because the pavé have a random element sometimes three left-field lucky dips: Jens Keukeleire (Lotto-Soudal), Damien Gaudin (Direct Energie) and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data)
My ever inaccurate picks are either Sagan (knows his way around a cobble, little or no GC riders in his team to worry about as Majka doesn’t count!) or Nibali of the GC guys lead the show. However, keep your on Terpstra, he has a wonderful ability to just roll of the front that may work today.
What about yesterday? Well, it was a typical day in France.
The topic ‘Tour de France Stage 9 – Arras Citadelle > Roubaix’ is closed to new replies.
