Monday was one of my most relaxed rest days ever. We flew to Lille on Sunday after the stage and on Monday there was nothing to do. I didn’t have to rush for anything, because the plane wouldn’t leave without us anyway.
In the Giro last year, the rest day was different. Then it came after ten hard days. For me it was completely exhausting. I had won the third Giro stage and the team thought: on the rest day it will have some time to comply with all media requests. Filled up my whole day.
This is much more relaxed, also because the Tour has been physically simple until now. The prologue was only short and the two rides afterwards through Denmark were not much. It is mainly the pressure and stress that you have. You have to squeeze for your place in the peloton and that takes a lot of energy. At least: mentally, not physically; a normal workout is heavier.
I had doubts about the fourth stage, Tuesday, to Calais. It was a nice stage for me beforehand, because there was a good chance of a flight. But Wednesday is the cobblestone stage to Arenberg and I think that’s where I have the best chance to show something beautiful. Had that ‘Roubaix ride’ been later, I would have gone for it in stage 4 anyway.
Now that was difficult, because there were fewer candidates who wanted to sit with me, because ‘Arenberg’ is the day after. The strong classic one-day riders wanted to keep their powder dry for this and many riders still have a sprinter or a classification rider that they have to protect so early in the Tour.
In short: beforehand there are quite a few considerations that I have to make. I also considered going for the break and trying to save some energy at the same time. Riders call this the Indian trick: ride calmly in front of the peloton all day long with a leading group and give it a little gas in the final. The peloton does just that. They also want to take it easy for as long as possible and only go hard at the end. If you dare to lose as a escapee and handle it well, such an escape does not have to cost too much strength.
And I could still have looked in the final: if this is feasible, I will open the throttle for another hour. If I had thought: it won’t be today and if I continue, it will be too much for Arenberg, I would have let myself be caught again.
Because I’m really looking forward to that cobblestone stage. We scouted him with the squad a few weeks ago. I saw a man there alone laying cobblestones by hand, but I think he still had a complete cobblestone road of five hundred meters to go. I’m really curious if he made it.
It’s going to be extreme chaos on Wednesday. All teams will try to get their leader in front at the first cobblestone section. For example, 180 people want to be in the first ten, but that is not possible. I’m not too worried about the eleven cobblestone sections themselves. Shortly before the finish there are two longer and heavier sections, which are also in Roubaix. Those are a bit more difficult, but I don’t think there will be a lot of selection due to the cobblestones themselves.
However, due to material breakdown or falls that block the road. This creates gaps, so that classification riders can lose time. That’s what this stage means for the Tour: it’s not about how fast you ride on those cobblestones, but how much bad luck you have as a leader. They can’t win the Tour on Wednesday, but they can lose.’