Another day, another sprint finish. Hopefully it will be run a bit quicker today, and with the weather turning colder, the riders might want to go faster just to keep warm.
The Course
As you can see above, there's not much in the way of hills to bother the riders, and the sprint points are more centrally located today. The weather will be a coldish 9 degrees, but there won't be any wind to bother the peleton, so it will be everyone together for the finish, which is semi-technical, and has a roundabout with 500m to go.
The Tactics
Less interesting than yesterday, the sprint points aren't going to be contested by sprinters or GC candidates, unless a very small break goes away. There's going to be even less wind, not even enough to fill a sock. The climb will be too far out from the finish for an attack to even be attempted, and it's not really hard enough to fatigue many of the riders, but if they go as slowly as yesterday, noone will be at all tired in any case. Surely that won't be the case however, the break yesterday was only a two-man one, with Voeckler and Delaplace trying, and almost managing, to outfox the peleton. The main problem is that most of the teams have sprinters or other priorites, so there isn't a great incentive to go into the break, meaning that the race is free to meander along without much impetus from the escapees.
As you can see above, there's not much in the way of hills to bother the riders, and the sprint points are more centrally located today. The weather will be a coldish 9 degrees, but there won't be any wind to bother the peleton, so it will be everyone together for the finish, which is semi-technical, and has a roundabout with 500m to go.
The Tactics
Less interesting than yesterday, the sprint points aren't going to be contested by sprinters or GC candidates, unless a very small break goes away. There's going to be even less wind, not even enough to fill a sock. The climb will be too far out from the finish for an attack to even be attempted, and it's not really hard enough to fatigue many of the riders, but if they go as slowly as yesterday, noone will be at all tired in any case. Surely that won't be the case however, the break yesterday was only a two-man one, with Voeckler and Delaplace trying, and almost managing, to outfox the peleton. The main problem is that most of the teams have sprinters or other priorites, so there isn't a great incentive to go into the break, meaning that the race is free to meander along without much impetus from the escapees.
The Contenders
Alexander Kristoff is ready to continue on with his impressive form, but he'll need to be sharp. They weren't too far off him yesterday, and the leadout will be more important today, as you'll need to be in the first 5 or so through the roundabout to have a good chance of winning. Guarnieri is the only real leadout guy on the roster, so Kristoff will again have to pick his wheels carefully in the final kilometres, but he did it very well yesterday. He'll also be advantaged by the cold weather, he is as tough as overcooked meat.
Andre Greipel went missing yesterday, but is recovering from a throat infection, and perhaps he does better today with some racing in his legs. He doesn't quite have his A-team leadout, but Hansen, Sieberg and Henderson are all part of his normal train, so he should be right up the front when it matters.
Nacer Bouhanni will be one to watch in the final kilometres, he faded a bit yesterday after trying to come round Kristoff, but was going pretty fast before that, and could have challenged.
Arnaud Demare was pretty far back when the sprint kicked off, and didn't make as much ground as others did. I'll wait for him to get into better form.
One of those others was Bryan Coquard who suits his nickname (the Mosquito) very well, and proved it yesterday, moving through a very small gap to grab 3rd.
John Degenkolb launched far too early yesterday, he tweeted that he misread the 300m to go as 200m, and was quite angry with himself after Kristoff just used him as a slingshot to victory. He does have probably the best leadout, so he should again be given a good chance to win the stage.
Out of the others, Michael Matthews is obviously going well, but lacks the top end speed of others here, and he might want to save up energy for tomorrow. Heinrich Haussler, came from a long way back to run a respectable 5th, but given how far out the sprint started it was only natural that others would be coming hard late. Ben Swift and Niccola Bonifazio were in the same boat, and will need to do better with their positioning to win this stage. Hutarovich can go fast if he gets positioning right, Nizzolo has the same problem, but he looked to have pretty good legs yesterday as he rode to 4th.
The Verdict
Alexander Kristoff is ready to continue on with his impressive form, but he'll need to be sharp. They weren't too far off him yesterday, and the leadout will be more important today, as you'll need to be in the first 5 or so through the roundabout to have a good chance of winning. Guarnieri is the only real leadout guy on the roster, so Kristoff will again have to pick his wheels carefully in the final kilometres, but he did it very well yesterday. He'll also be advantaged by the cold weather, he is as tough as overcooked meat.
Andre Greipel went missing yesterday, but is recovering from a throat infection, and perhaps he does better today with some racing in his legs. He doesn't quite have his A-team leadout, but Hansen, Sieberg and Henderson are all part of his normal train, so he should be right up the front when it matters.
Nacer Bouhanni will be one to watch in the final kilometres, he faded a bit yesterday after trying to come round Kristoff, but was going pretty fast before that, and could have challenged.
Arnaud Demare was pretty far back when the sprint kicked off, and didn't make as much ground as others did. I'll wait for him to get into better form.
One of those others was Bryan Coquard who suits his nickname (the Mosquito) very well, and proved it yesterday, moving through a very small gap to grab 3rd.
John Degenkolb launched far too early yesterday, he tweeted that he misread the 300m to go as 200m, and was quite angry with himself after Kristoff just used him as a slingshot to victory. He does have probably the best leadout, so he should again be given a good chance to win the stage.
Out of the others, Michael Matthews is obviously going well, but lacks the top end speed of others here, and he might want to save up energy for tomorrow. Heinrich Haussler, came from a long way back to run a respectable 5th, but given how far out the sprint started it was only natural that others would be coming hard late. Ben Swift and Niccola Bonifazio were in the same boat, and will need to do better with their positioning to win this stage. Hutarovich can go fast if he gets positioning right, Nizzolo has the same problem, but he looked to have pretty good legs yesterday as he rode to 4th.
The Verdict