7 hours ago
11
Key events
77km to go: I’m off for a spot of lunch, Dominic Booth is stepping in for a while. Au revoir.
78km to go: The Col de Gerbet is up next but for now. First there is a little uncategorised ascent and a downhill section in the category-two climb, that is 4.6km long with an average gradient of 6.5%.
83km to go: The average speed is 33.8km/h, which indicates the lumpy nature of the route. The temperature is registering at 31C: hot, but bearable.
86km to go: Pieterse is up front again approaching the top of the Col de Fontmartin. She attacks and takes maximum points yet again. The front group has reduced a bit more and we’ve got 75 riders up front.
Wiebes, the green jersey wearer, is 1min 15sec behind the front of the race, with nine others.
88km to go: This is the kind of stage profile that breakaway legend Thomas de Gendt would have fancied in the men’s race. The trick is initially having the power and stamina to put in a decisive attack that gaps the bunch. Can anyone muster (mustard?) such a significant effort today?
88km to go: Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) attacks on the Col de Fontmartin. Her move is covered by the bunch immediately.
89km to go: Reusser said yesterday that she and the team called her ITT attempt “Project Dijon”. She also mentioned how appropriate it is that Dijon mustard is yellow-coloured. Reusser is an entertaining interviewee, that’s for sure.
92km to go: The Col de Fontmartin is next on today’s tasting menu of punchy climbs. It’s 3.6km long, with an average gradient of 5.7%.
Thus far, this is shaping up to be a GC day, as widely predicted by the contenders this morning. It doesn’t look like anyone is going to make a breakaway stick but let’s see.
97km to go: Cipressi has been caught. The front group numbers 92. Our race leader Reusser is there, and Movistar’s attempt to keep yellow is going well so far.
98km to go: Apparently, the Community Shield between Arsenal and Manchester City takes place on Sunday 16 August. Ugh, will the football never end?
100km to go: Cipressi, leading alone, is the first rider to break the 100km to go mark. With five categorised climbs to come, the story of this stage is just getting started.
101km to go: The intermediate sprint point is coming up very soon, at Monsols. Cipressi continues to lead on her own, tapping out a strong tempo. She rolls through the intermediate and takes 25 points. Wiebes takes second place, in the bunch, a few seconds behind.
102km to go: Worth pointing out that there is a “Bonus point” at Saint-Lager with 14.2km to go, leading into the final climb. Six, four and two bonification seconds are on offer. Niewiadoma-Phinney said earlier she does not anticipate the GC riders fighting for those seconds, though: rather it will be about making sure they are in position for the final climb.
103km to go: So now four groups on the road: Carlotta Cippressi (Human Powered Health) leads on her own out front. Dani Rowe on the motorbike says there are plenty of riders in the peloton who are keen for water and food, but the team cars cannot get through due to the dropped riders behind.
106km to go: This stage is going to be what you might call highly selective. Those 32 riders, two minutes down, are going to struggle to get back in touch if attacks continue up front. It’ll be very interesting to see who is left standing (or rather riding) in the front group on the final climb, Mont Brouilly, that peaks with 10.6km remaining.
107km to go: Three groups on the road: The legend that is Marianne Vos (Team Visma-Lease A Bike) is in a group of 10, a minute behind the main bunch. The dropped riders are 2min down on the front of the race.
108km to go: Sara Casasola (Fenix–Premier Tech) was second on the Col de la Croix de l’Orme, claiming a single QOM point.
109km to go: The bunch is together on the category-four Côte de Saint-Christophe: 109 riders are there. The dropped group numbers 27, including Charlotte Kool and Maud Rijnbeek.
110km to go: Did Pieterse recon this stage, Matt Stephens asked earlier for TNT Sports.
“No, I did not,” replies the Fenix–Premier Tech rider, and that seems to be end of conversation before Stephens prompts her to expand.
“I’m used to that. My first year of Classics, I didn’t do any recons, and it went fine. Sometimes it’s better not to know what’s coming up, and just go full gas.”
111km to go: Pieterse takes a maximum two QOM points on the Col de la Croix de l’Orme. Again, there is little resistance from her rivals at the head of the race.
112km to go: Chiara Consonni (Canyon/SRAM) has crashed heavily and is clearly in a lot of pain. Medics attend to her immediately: let’s hope the 27-year-old Italian, a multiple gold medallist on the track, is not too badly hurt.
113km to go: The road kicks up, and Fisher-Black is caught. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L’Imad) takes it up at the front. It’s all strung out behind, and there will be some burning legs as riders try to keep in touch.
114km to go: Fisher-Black powers on alone up front. A brief flatter (but not flat) section leading into the next climb, the Col de la Croix de l’Orme.
117km to go: A group of 24 has been dropped, including Noskova of Cofidis, currently second in the QOM standings. Noskova staged a brave and powerful solo attack late on stage one, but was eventually shut down, before Lorena Wiebes won and took yellow.
120km to go: Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) attacks on the descent, heading down to the Col de la Croix de l’Orme. She’s got daylight between her and what I think is a chase group off the front of the bunch.
123km to go: Dani Rowe, on the TNT moto, mentions the heat and how many bottles the teams are getting through. (Hundreds.)
“It’s going to be fireworks today, it’s brutal,” Rowe adds of the relentlessly hilly route.
125km to go: There is now a descent – funny how that always seems to happen after a climb – then an uncategorised little climb and a longer descent, to the foot of the Col de la Croix de l’Orme: a category-four climb, 2.1km long, 5.5% average gradient.
127km to go: Pieterse, wearing all polka-dots, accelerates to take the maxium five QOM points on the Côte de Cenves. No one at the front of the race tries to pip her.
128km to go: Attacks begin with under a kilometre to the summit of the Côte de Cenves.
129.5km to go: Still more than 2km to the top of this climb. No doubt plenty of the riders are suffering with this gruelling start coming straight after the individual time trial. The good news, perhaps, is that their tired bodies will get properly warmed up for the climbs later in the stage.
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
