Tour de France 2018 stage 7: Fougéres - Chartres 231 km

[Simurgh]

After a thrilling finish on the Mur, we are left with Dumoulin losing lots of time, Bardet losing some time as well, and defending champion and multiple Tour-winner and defending champion of all three Grand Tours Chris Froome losing seconds as well. On the other hand, Dan Martin and Richie Porte showed their readiness to battle for victory!
It is unlikely though, that we will see the continuation of today's battle tomorrow. Instead we are going to see the top guns of sprinting battle it out for stage victory. Will Gaviria and Quickstep continue to dominate, or will another speedster take the day?

Stage 7 is a ride from the small town of Fougéres to Chartres.


Fougéres was a somewhat strategic castle in the Middle Ages, where the Kingdom of France, the Duchy of Brittany and even the English was in conflict with each other because of it.



Leaving the region of Brittany to end in the Centre-Val de Loire, while passing by Pays de la Loire. This region is known for its many châteux...

...which is the legacy of Loire being the centre of power in France and the preferred place to be for the French royalty, before King Francois I chose to highlight the old capital Paris once more. Some of these châteux were destroyed or their values plundered during the revolution, because their owners (or their owner's heads) were gone.



Chartres main sight is its 798 years old cathedral.



Another opportunity for the sprinters, as the profile clearly shows!

Profile
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Last km

General classification before tomorrow:

1. Greg Van AVERMAET (BMC)
2. Geraint THOMAS (SKY) + 3''
3. Tejay VAN GARDEREN (BMC) + 5''
4. Julian ALAPHILIPPE (Quickstep) + 6''
5. Philippe GILBERT (Quickstep) + 12''
6. Bob JUNGELS (Quickstep) + 18''
7. Rigoberto URAN (EF-ED) + 45''
8. Alejandro VALVERDE (Movistar) + 51''
9. Rafal MAJKA (Bora) + 52''
10. Jakob FUGLSANG (Astana) + 53''

Polka-dot jersey competition before tomorrow:

1. Toms SKUIJNS (Trek) 6
2. Sylvain CHAVANEL (Direct Energie) 4
3. Dion SMITH (Wanty) 4

Points jersey competition before tomorrow:

1. Peter SAGAN (Bora) [i]199
2. Fernando GAVIRIA (Quickstep) 156
3. Alexander KRISTOFF (UAE) 88
4. André GREIPEL (Lotto-Soudal) 75
5. Arnaud DEMARE (GFD) 57

Weather forecast at the finish

[SafeBet]

Hopefully it's Dylan's time to shine.

[Red Rick]

Gee, we've had sprints that weren't flat. Can't go too overboard with the hills can we?

[Laplaz]

The last 500 meters look like at least 3%

[Leinster]

The last 500 meters look like at least 3%

20m in 1km is a 2% average from the kite to the finish, so the latter half of that must be greater than 3 based on that profile. It’ll be a hard one.


1 Gaviria
2 Sagan
3-5 Kristoff/Kittel/Greipel/Grownewegen (one of whom will have a mechanical in the final 5km and miss out)

[Jancouver]

1. Sonny
2. Nando
3. Sagan

... only because PS went too deep today and Sonny took it easy & Nando had a day off.

[sir fly]

The last 500 meters look like at least 3%

20m in 1km is a 2% average from the kite to the finish, so the latter half of that must be greater than 3 based on that profile. It’ll be a hard one.


1 Gaviria
2 Sagan
3-5 Kristoff/Kittel/Greipel/Grownewegen (one of whom will have a mechanical in the final 5km and miss out)

Here's the view from the top of finishing straight.
Judge by yourselves what kind of sprint might be.

[Oliwright]

Jesus I am soooo bored of sprinters stages FFS, this opening week will probably end up with 3 notable stages.

[Lance Armstrong]

It's like 700m at 3% and final 300m is flat. Sagan vs Gaviria again.

[SHAD0W93]

We can all agree that I hope Cav wins tomorrow.

[Jagartrott]

Fast forward to Sunday please.

[Valv.Piti]

1. Sonny
2. Nando
3. Sagan

... only because PS went too deep today and Sonny took it easy & Nando had a day off.

Nando really didn't have a day off today...

[Koronin]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

[Vasilis]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

What?

[Koronin]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

What?

I think Peter will be top 5, just think he won't be in the top 3 due to his helping Mijka today. Saturday is another story.

[More Strides than Rides]

231 km into a slight headwind the whole way. The breakaway has my sympathies...

[skippo12]

Greipel was impressive in the last sprint but his team sucks. I think he wil win one stage during the Tour because Lotto as bad as they are in the moment won`t screw up every single time.

[GuyIncognito]

Another opportunity for the sprinters, as the profile clearly shows!

The profile is deceiving. It's at 4.5%

Sagan win #3, I'm guessing

[Vasilis]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

What?

I think Peter will be top 5, just think he won't be in the top 3 due to his helping Mijka today. Saturday is another story.

What I meant is that today I didn't get the impression at all he was sacrificing himself for Majka.

[Koronin]

Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)

What?

I think Peter will be top 5, just think he won't be in the top 3 due to his helping Mijka today. Saturday is another story.

What I meant is that today I didn't get the impression at all he was sacrificing himself for Majka.

You may be correct. We'll see tomorrow.