Last year’s second Jonas Vingegaard is third, 31 seconds behind. The German team Bora-hansgrohe experienced a moment of shock when captain Alexander Vlasow fell about eight kilometers from the finish. In the end, the Russian lost just five seconds to Pogacar and is seventh overall, 52 seconds back. “If that was all our bad luck in the tour, then that’s tolerable. It shouldn’t be more,” said sports director Rolf Aldag.
Van Aert is caught 11 kilometers from the finish
In the first 60 kilometers through Belgium it was not possible to establish a breakaway group. Then leader van Aert tried it himself after 72 kilometers and was able to pull away with the Dane Jakob Fuglsang and the American Quinn Simmons. However, the trio was not left out for more than three and a half minutes. Van Aert’s escape kept the pace consistently high. After three hours of racing, the average was 50.2 km/h. “It was awesome what he did. It was really with the crowbar,” said Schachmann.
Despite the work of several teams, it was only eleven kilometers before the finish line that Van Aert was able to catch up. He had long since shaken off his two companions. The performance of the 27-year-old was once again impressive. It was only on Wednesday that he practically single-handedly drove his captain Vingegaard back up the cobblestone stage and ensured that the Dane lost just 13 seconds to dominator Tadej Pogacar.
Favorites are required
After the longest stage, the favorites have to show their form at the first mountain finish on Friday. The seven-kilometer climb to La Super Planche de Belles Filles is extremely tough, especially at the end. There are gradients of 20 and 24 percent, and the road is partly unpaved. The Planche is actually a ski slope, discovered by the tour organizers ten years ago and included in the program for the first time.
Since then, the ascent in the Vosges has been something of the destiny of the tour. Chris Froome (2012), Vincenzo Nibali (2014) and Tadej Pogacar (2020) won there and ended up winning the tour. Fabio Aru (2017) and Dylan Teuns (2019) did not succeed despite their success on the planche.
This year, many teams are expecting a breakaway to pull through. Since the terrain before the climb is not too challenging, it is also assumed that the distances between the classification riders will be small. “It’s more about seconds than minutes,” said Rolf Aldag, head of sports at Bora-hansgrohe. The German team will want to send a driver to the group who will end up supporting captain Alexander Vlasov. However, the other top teams should also have this plan.