The race restarts on the National Day, and it will be as hot as the first week which cooked many riders who will spend Monday in an ice pool. The temperature will not decrease until Thursday perhaps, or Friday more surely, when it will not even be cool but just 'more normally' hot.
Weeks are shorter now, 6 days only. This one starts with a medium mountain stage, then presents 2 easy days, before getting harder over 3 mountain days, with a finish on top on the two week-end stages.
Standings after week 1
General Classification:
While the Slovenian detached a bit already, there are still many contenders (8) for the podium, and they all are expected favourites.
- Tadej Pogatchar ๐ธ๐ฎ UAE
- Jonas Vingegaard ๐ฉ๐ฐ Visma: +2โฒ42โณ
- Isaac Del Toro ๐ฒ๐ฝ UAE +3โฒ27โณ
- Remco Evenepoel ๐ง๐ช Bora: +3โฒ30โณ
- Juan Ayuso ๐ช๐ธ Lidl-Trek: +3โฒ34โณ
- Paul Seixas ๐ซ๐ท Decathlon: +3โฒ55โณ
- Florian Lipowitz ๐ฉ๐ช Bora: +4โฒ00โณ
- Lenny Martinez ๐ซ๐ท Bahrain: +4โฒ21โณ
- Mattias Skjelmose ๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek: +4โฒ57โณ
- Egan Bernal ๐จ๐ด ineos : +9โฒ12โณ
Points classification (Green jersey):
- Mads Pedersen ๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek: 268 pts
- Biniam Girmay ๐ช๐ท NSN: 223
- Tim Merlier ๐ง๐ช Soudal-QS: 213
- jasper Philipsen ๐ง๐ช Alpecin: 191
- Max Kanter ๐ฉ๐ช Astana: 172
- Olav Kooij ๐ณ๐ฑ Decathlon 110
Mountain (Polka Dots jersey)
Few points were scored so far.
- Tadej Pogatchar ๐ธ๐ฎ UAE: 28 pts
- Jonas Vingegaard ๐ฉ๐ฐ Visma: 19
- Lenny Martinez ๐ซ๐ท Bahrain: 16
- Alex Baudin ๐ซ๐ท EF: 13
- Valentin Paret-Peintre ๐ซ๐ท Soudal-QS & Paul Seixas ๐ซ๐ท Decathlon: 12
Stages
Stage 10, Tuesday 14
167 km, D+ 3800 m
The stage in the Massif Central looks a bit like the previous (Ussel) stage, but the climbs are significantly more substantial and there is even less flat for recovery, so a breakaway of climbers more than punchers can be expected (if UAE doesn't decide to win it from the peloton).
Press to the finish profile
Stage 11, Wednesday 15
161 km, D+ 1100 m
This is a sprinters stage.
Press to see profile and map
Stage 12, Thursday 16
179 km, D+ 1400 m
This one is a bit more hilly than the previous one, but those hills look far from enough to prevent another sprinters stage.
Press to see profile and map
Stage 13, Friday 17
206 km, D+ 2300 m
After 2 days of sprint, we are progressively getting back in business with this pilgrimage into the land of Pinot. Because the following two days will be finish-on-top stages, this one is likely to be granted to a breakaway. As always these days, it means that a ton of riders will try to join it. The two (not very difficult) climbs only start after 150 km of slightly hilly terrain, and this is the longest stage in this Tour.
Press to see the map and the profile of the main climb (Ballon d'Alsace)
Stage 14, Saturday 18
155 km, D+ 3900 m
This Alsatian mountain stage is a loop in the Vosges. It climbs again the same side of the Ballon d'Alsace that was climbed the day before. The almost final Haag Pass is basically a different road to get to the same point as the Grand Ballon climbed early in the stage.
Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Grand Ballon & Haag)
Stage 15, Sunday 19
184 km, D+ 4100 m
This weeks ends up as this year's Dauphinรฉ did (when Del Toro (๐ฒ๐ฝ UAE) beat badly the rest of the field). The final climb is the same but the whole course which starts in the Jura mounts, before bypassing Geneva by staying on the French side, is very different, much more varied.
Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Croisette Pass & Solaison Plateau)
We're in Normandy at the coast - St. Aunbin-sur-mer - and while it's hot it's not unbearable. Yesterday we had some rain and it's been cool enough at night, thank god.
I am happy we're not further south, though. I don't deal with the heat well, being from the lower part of the High North.
I see... returning to the scene of the crime, 1200 years later. Did you find something left to pillage or burn? ๐คฃ
Rain? I can't remember what that is. ๐ I even have to water 40 years old trees so that they don't die. While there is available water. I has rained once in 5 weeks, and there is no forecast of rain for the next week or 2, so water usage will be restricted soon (I am surprised it is not yet). Before the drought, simply due to the heat, the leaves of many vegetables, shrubs and even creepers have 'burned', berries have cooked and rotten standing (well, except the redcurrant shrubs which bore nothing because it developed too early because of the hot winter...). Most apples have fallen, and the rest doesn't reach 2 inches in diameter and the surface is burned on the side facing south.
Looking at the weather forecast for the place where you are, I see a consistant 10 ยฐC lower than here every day. ๐ญ
Yeah, but those last weeks have been equality hot all over the territory (except coast lines). Though it doesn't help, in general, that I live more south than 99% of metropolitan France (contrarily to popular belief, including the belief of the people who live there, the french Riviera is not the Southernmost part of France).
And when I say coast lines... The Atlantic coast below Brittany doesn't seem protected much any more, which came as a surprise. The Gulf of Gascony / Bay of Bascony seem not to play its buffering role any more, or even reversed it to heat up the Western coast of France and the Northern coast of Spain.
You will unfortunately have to get accustomed to it for the next decades, because it is coming up north fast. The other guy got his book all wrong: the fearsome sentence should have been "Summer is coming", not "Winter is coming" ๐คฃ