The great Circus of July arrive in town on Saturday, for 3 weeks.
It starts in Catalunya, Spain and reaches France by the road. Strangely, while many days are spent in the area, Pyrenees as a mountain are almost avoided.
There are only 2 rest days this year, so the first week is relatively long: 8 days.
Again, there are no long stages this year: only 1 barely goes over 200 km. And the total course is probably the second shortest in history (just a few miles longer than last year’s edition…)
Another heatwave is expected over France in July, starting at the same time as the race. It may not be as bad as the heatwave of June, but it is still going to be significantly hotter than normal for days if not weeks.
Regulations
You’ve got the usual Yellow, Green, Red Polka Dots, and White jerseys. Mountain and Points final classifications bring UCI points for the first 3 riders (only).
On top of the Agressive rider daily and final prizes, there is now a smaller weekly and final ‘best teammate’ prize. Both are jury-based prizes.
Each stage brings almost the same UCI points as a 1.Pro race (!)
The scale for Green jersey points has been tweaked to favour even more the pure sprinters… There seems to be only 1 Intermediate Sprint per stage.
The scale for small GPM points remains as ridiculous as before: only 1 point for 1 rider on 4th category climbs, and 2 and points for the first 2 riders on 3rd category climbs…
There are no other secondary or tertiary classification to animate stage or give smaller teams an achievable goal.
Riders
The cream of the mutant crust will be present, probably for the only time this year.
Stages
Stage 1, Saturday 1, Team Time Trial
20 km, D+ 220 m
A very short TTT in the streets of Barcelona, with some climbing near and at the end (your usual Montjuic). Together with the new rules, it means that it is designed to bring the leaders to the front as soon as day 1.
Stage 2
169 km, D+ 2000 m
A stage for punchers, again finishing in Barcelona’s Montjuic, pretty much like the final stage of the Tour of Catalunya even though the circuit is a little bit different
Stage 3
196 km, D+ 3900 m
Arrival in a ski resort in French Catalunya. Is this a mountain stage or a puncher stage? Or simply a very good day for breakaways?
Well, it’s the TdF - people are reluctant to attack most of the time. That’s why it’s the third most exciting grand tour most years 😊😂
Reluctant with good reason! It’s the day after a time trial and more than a week to a rest day. Would you really risk a good classification place or later stage wins this early, attacking on a hillside crit circuit that the breakaway has maybe 1% chance of winning? Be serious.
There may be a story with the way Pog raced that finish, letting Del Toro ride ahead and watching to see if anyone tried to sprint it out. I wonder if he’s hoping to do a few one-two attacks on Jonas now a more isolated leader without help from WVA or Roglic̆, as revenge for the Visma “I’m dead” attacks on Pog a couple of years ago.
No, it makes sense from a purely logical point of view - though I do think Skjelmoses attack was good, same with Johannesen. But the TdF is always the most passive GT, people will defend a top 10 rather than risk something to go for a top 5. From a purely personal perspective this means it’s the least interesting GT of the year, though admittedly we have better riders here etc.