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Key events
21km to go Time gap now less than two minutes and we’re just a few kilometres shy of the next climb. Not enough for the breakaway, I fear.
28km to go We’ve had a crash in the peloton, four riders are down. Nikola Noskova (Cofidis), Nadia Gontova (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Marine Allione and Alice Coutinho (Mayenne Monbana My Pie) went down in the thick of the peloton, none look seriously injured but they are being checked out on the road.
32km to go This is coming down rapidly now. The espcapists have lost another 15secs of their advantage. At this pace, the gap will be gone by the time they reach the foot of Côte de Colomars.
35km to go The peloton is definitely winding up for this latter stages of this race. The domestiques are loading up on supplies, while up front it’s all business as they chase Adegeest and Squiban. The gap is now little more than four minutes.
46km to go The penultimate categorised climb is coming up in roughly 30km. I think this is where we’ll get a clearer picture on the peloton’s intentions for this stage. The gap is now down 4mins 45secs, and the break will need every second if it is to stay away.
55km to go The gap between the breakaway pair and the peloton is down to 5min 15secs, still significant but it was more than six minutes at one point. A breakaway win would suit Canyon/Sram as it would remove the bonus seconds on the line. Vollering is definitely stronger in a sprint than Niewiadoma-Phinney and could look to cut the gap in such a fashion.
62km to go Nice touch as the local steam train lets off some whistles as the riders go past en route to the intermediate sprint. Adegeest and Squiban had taken the respective 25 and 20 points available, but Wiebes pulled ahead of the peloton to take the 17 points on offer for third.
72km to go In the break, Squiban has been kicking off at race officials as the UAE Team L’Imad car has not been up to support her with bidons and gels. Now they’re up there, dishing out cans of Coke and she seems a little happier.
78km to go The distance to go is coming down rapidly with the riders going downhill. The average speed is nearly 50km/h and there are some splits in the peloton as the riders navigate down Col de Toutes Aures. This would be the fun bit of being a pro rider, empty roads down the mountain, incredible views. Yes please.
Very interesting little cutaway interview on TNT with Kate Veronneau, the director of women’s strategy at Zwift, the Tour de France Femmes’ title sponsor. She says “we’re not going to be having the same conversayion next year about full coverage” and “we’re not even going to have an option” of not showing the stages in full. Veronneau also hinted at the race being extended beyond its current nine stages.
95km to go This time it’s Squiban who takes the mountains points.
99km to go Coston is back with the peloton and the break is nearly six minutes up the road. Once the riders are over the category four climb they are going up now, it’s a lengthy descent towards the coast.
105km to go Coston has no chance of catching the two out in front, the gap is now more than five minutes. The Frenchwoman looks like she’s heading back to the peloton.
110km to go Neither of these two are in the hunt for the polkadots, but Adegeest takes the two mountains points at the top of Col des Robines.
113km to go Coston is about one minute ahead of the peloton but sitll more than three minutes behind the lead pair, who will reach the summit Col des Robines shortly.
123km to go Morgane Coston (Ma Petite Enterprise) has gone off after the breakaway pair, she has 2mins 35secs to make up. The peloton is more than three minutes behind the leaders.
137km to go We have a breakaway, Maeva Squiban (UAE Team L’Imad) and Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) have managed to get clear. They have 1min 30secs on the peloton.
144km to go Another Visma-Lease a Bike rider tries to go clear, this time it’s Lieke Nooijen.
154km to go Daniek Hengeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike) has been the only rider to make any kind of attack stick so far, but her advantage only reached 12secs before she was reeled back in.
In case you’re just catching up, here’s what happened yesterday in a thrilling stage up Mont Ventoux from Jeremy Whittle on the ground in Provence:
Defending champion Ferrand-Prévot abandons!
The big early news pre-stage was the announcement from Visma-Lease a Bike revealing that defending Pauline Ferrand-Prévot would not be starting stage eight. The Frenchwoman had not been able to live with the GC contenders when the racing got tough this week and her team have now said she had come down with an illness and was withdrawing from the race. Here’s the statement from Visma-Lease a Bike:
Unfortunately, Pauline was not feeling well this morning. In consultation with the medical staff, it has been decided that she will not start today. We wish Pauline a speedy recovery!
168km to go A couple of early attacks but as yet nothing to write home about.
Kilometre zero
Marion Rousse waves off the riders and we are on the road to Nice. I’ll be monitoring race radio until we get live pictures from TNT at 2.30pm BST.
Preamble
After the drama of Mont Ventoux today’s stage is a little bit of an unknown. It’s listed as flat, but the first 75km are essentially an uphill drag and then there are two category four climbs just before the riders get to Nice. It’s hard to see where the opportunity for an attack from the general classification contenders might come from, but at the same time this not straightforward for sprinters.
Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney was so impressive in snatching away the yellow jersey it is difficult to imagine her crumbling now, but Demi Vollering is only some stage-win bonus seconds and change behind the Polish rider. This is not over, but the window is narrowing for Vollering.
Lorena Wiebes is sitting pretty in the green jersey and should the SD Worx-Protime sprinter be able to manage over the lumps then she is the obvious candidate in the sprint. There are probably some smart tactical advantages to Niewiadoma-Phinney’s Canyon–SRAM team in getting someone in the break and letting that go, so how the seek to control the peloton will be worth keeping an eye on.
Given the swings in momentum over the course of this race, all I do know is this won’t be dull.
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