• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

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

Who is going to win the stage?

  • Fernando GAVIRIA

    Votes: 34 54.8%
  • Peter SAGAN

    Votes: 8 12.9%
  • Dylan GROENEWEGEN

    Votes: 8 12.9%
  • Marcel KITTEL

    Votes: 4 6.5%
  • Arnaud DEMARE

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • André GREIPEL

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • Alexander KRISTOFF

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sonny COLBRELLI

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Mark CAVENDISH

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
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.
ifs9b4.jpg


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.

2qd8yz8.jpg


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...
aop43l.png

...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.

302Chenonceau.jpg


Chartres main sight is its 798 years old cathedral.

abtbnp.jpg


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

Profile
[/b]
wvebmf.jpg


Last km
2i29na.jpg

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) 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

3bfjm.png
 
Re:

Laplaz said:
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)
 
Mar 14, 2009
3,436
0
0
1. Sonny
2. Nando
3. Sagan

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

Leinster said:
Laplaz said:
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.
 
Re: Re:

Vasilis said:
Koronin said:
Vasilis said:
Koronin said:
Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)
What? :D
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. :D
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.
 
Re: Re:

Vasilis said:
Koronin said:
Vasilis said:
Koronin said:
Gaviria
Gripel
Colbrelli
(Peter just off due to how deep he went today helping Majka.)
What? :D
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. :D
What I meant is that today I didn't get the impression at all he was sacrificing himself for Majka.
As well as on TTT, unfortunately.