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Key events
QOM competition: top five
1) Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) 18pts
2) Nikola Noskova (Cofidis) 14pts
3) Sigrid Haugset (Uno-X Mobility) 11pts
4) Oceane Mahe (Ma Petite Entreprise) 8pts
5) Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility) 7pts
131km to go: We did see a few skirmishes at the front, just then, with several riders trying to break away, but it was shut down and all together at the front.
There are 27 points on offer in the QOM competition today. The second-biggest of the race points-wise.
“I feel good,” Ferrand-Prévot told TNT Sports earlier. “I had a good night of sleep, I feel a bit lighter that the time trial is over. I can wake up and start a new day. I think it’s going to be hard again, and I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s funny, people expect I will be matching Marlen or Demi [in the TT] but I never expected this. I knew it would never be the case … I am not surprised [to lose two minutes], I just have to try and gain some time somewhere.
“It’s going to be really hard day … the last two climbs are hard, but the first part of the race is hard too … I want to get back a good feeling on the bike, and maybe try something, if I feel good.”
134km to go: The road is narrow, and the bunch is strung out. The pace is certainly hot, but we are not seeing a manic start that might have been expected. It can be guaranteed that riders and sports directors have been poring over today’s route, though, choosing the optimal place to attack.
135km to go: Vollering was one of the riders who went down, but the good news is, she’s back in the bunch and apparently unharmed.
136km to go: A bit surprising perhaps that there are not attacks from the gun, from riders who think a breakway could stick, and gave themselves a “day off” on the time trial with one eye on today.
137km to go: Crash at the back of the bunch. It’s not at high speed but looks nasty anyway. The front of the race winds past L’Eglise Saint-Germain, situated in a typically picturesque village.
138km to go: The road is heading upwards immediately. The Côte de Cenves is 9.6km long, at an average of 4.4% gradien. At the moment the front of the race is on an uncategorised section.
Racing on stage five
Allez!
The riders are out on the road and it’s under 3km to the official start.
“I’m certain there will be hard attacks … hopefully not heart attacks … and we will try to follow.” (Marlen Reusser).
“It’s one of the steps to the main goal,” says Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney of her individual time trial performance yesterday. “I know the real stuff is ahead of us. We’re definitely happy with the execution, but we keep our focus on upcoming stages. One day at a time.”
“Expecting to see PFP, AvdB & ELB make moves today as guessing none of them came to just sit and watch the GC battle take place without them,” emails Simon. “Should be good.”
PFP = Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
AvdB = Anna van der Breggen
ELB = Elisa Longo Borghini
Rutger Tijssen, Visma-Lease A Bike team manager, talks to TNT Sports about the time Pauline Ferrand-Prévot lost yesterday in the time trial. [She was 2min 13sec down on the winner, finished 34th on the day, and fell to 14th in GC as a result.]
“Losing minutes never makes you happy,” he says. “In, let’s say five days, we can say if it was too much, of if it was good for us.
“[Yesterday’s time loss] is not that bad at all. Her ‘play card’ is still around the corner. We are looking forward to the coming days, especially this Friday, when we are going to approach the Mont Ventoux.
Asked if Ferrand-Prévot may attack and try to win some time back today, Tijssen says: “You should always take an opportunity if it’s there: but first, it has to be created.”
That’s quite deep.
“We don’t have the team to ride all day and control everything … we’re just going to try to take Marlen safely to finish,” says Kelvin Dekker, Movistar Team assistant sports director. He agrees that today will be a very difficult one to control [© Sean Kelly].
What was the mood like on the bus this morning, with Reusser in yellow?
“It was amazing. We were playing around with the yellow bike, yellow helmets, they were taking selfies with the lion … morale is really high … because you expect it, it doesn’t make it less fun … Marlen tried on the yellow skinsuit, it was a bit of a fashion show then, and it’s really cool to see.”
I reckon today is going to be frantic, and we will see a shake-up in the GC.
What do you think? Email me. Merci.
Top 10 GC before stage five
1. Marlen Reusser (Movistar) 11hr 47min 36sec
2. Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) +14sec
3. Cedrine Kerbaol (FEF Education-Oatly) +54sec
4. Sigrid Haugset (NUno-X Mobility) +56sec
5. Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team L’Imad) +1min 03sec
6. Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) +1min 09sec
7. Paula Blasi Cairol (UAE Team L’Imad) +1min 12sec
8. Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) +1min 17sec
9. Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM) +1min 43sec
10. Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 47sec
Away from stage four, the news agenda was dominated yesterday by news of extra checks by UCI commissaires for irregular chest padding, reportedly being used by riders to boost aerodynamics. Jeremy Whittle reports:
Marlen Reusser of Movistar triumphed in yesterday’s individual time trial, AKA the Race of Truth. Read Jeremy Whittle’s report:
Preamble
Stage five is classified as hilly, and you can say that again. There are eight categorised ascents and lots of uncategorised ones on what promises to be a draining 140km journey from Mâcon to Belleville-en-Beaujolais.
With 2,900m climbing in total, it’s not the most punishing day on paper, but there is potential for this to be a horribly demanding stage for all concerned. Some will fancy their chances in a breakaway but the GC teams will naturally be looking to control: if an overall contender such as Demi Vollering is feeling good, she might try and attack on the final couple of climbs.
It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that a breakaway is allowed up the road to fight for the stage amid a ceasefire in GC: but the riders will suspect today is going to be far more hectic than that, and a fierce fight from the start is likely.
Neutralised start: 13.45 CET/12.45 BST
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