Tour de France 2020 | Stage 7 (Millau - Lavaur, 168 km)

[Devil's Elbow]

After yet another lacklustre mountain stage, today is another chance for the sprinters... although both a breakaway and the wind could threaten them here.

Map

Profile

Timetable
Start: 13:25
Côte de Luzençon: 13:47/13:47/13:48
Intermediate sprint: 14:52/14:55/14:59
Col de Peyronnenc: 15:13/15:17/15:22
Côte de Paulhe: 15:45/15:51/15:58
Castres: 16:21/16:38/16:37
Finish: 17:19/17:29/17:41

Climbs
The opening part of the stage is very hilly, with the cat. 3 Côte de Luzençon as the main climb. There isn't much flat until later on in the stage, the right riders could establish a solid lead. An uncategorised drag and similar descent lead to the intermediate sprint, immediately after which the Col de Peyronnenc starts. By far the longest climb of the day, its low gradient means it's only a cat. 3.

From here, we have 50 kilometers of false flat downhill into Castres, interrupted by the final climb of the day, the cat. 4 Côte de Paulhe. There are 50 kilometers remaining from Castres, all of them to the west, and it's mainly the first 15 of them that are exposed to the wind, which will be blowing from the southeast.

Finish
Picture the finish of Stage 3 in terms of road width and straightness... only there's a tailwind and, more importantly, a roundabout right before the flamme rouge with only one side available. Like on Stage 5, positioning is crucial.

General classification after Stage 6

1. Adam Yates
2. Primoz Roglic + 0.03
3. Tadej Pogacar + 0.07
4. Guillaume Martin + 0.09
5. Egan Bernal + 0.13
6. Tom Dumoulin s.t.
7. Esteban Chaves s.t.
8. Nairo Quintana s.t.
9. Romain Bardet s.t.
10. Miguel Ángel López s.t.

Points classification after Stage 6

1. Sam Bennett 129
2. Peter Sagan 117
3. Alexander Kristoff 93
4. Caleb Ewan 75
5. Matteo Trentin 71

Mountains classification after Stage 6

1. Benoît Cosnefroy 23
2. Michael Gogl 12
3. Primoz Roglic 10
4. Alexey Lutsenko 10
5. Nicolas Roche 10

Young riders classification after Stage 6

1. Tadej Pogacar
2. Egan Bernal + 0.06
3. Enric Mas + 0.15
4. Sergio Higuita + 0.34
5. Daniel Felipe Martinez + 4.18

 

[Leinster]

That whole D112 road looks pretty narrow. If echelons do happen, there won't be much room in the first one for 10 Flandriens, plus 10 GC captains and a few of their lieutenants each.

Is it my imagination, or have Roglic/Jumbo been caught out in crosswinds a couple of times in recent years? A DeClerq/Asgreen v Martin/VanAert drag race across Tarn with their captains in tow would frankly more than make up for everything that hasn't happened so far.

 

[Koronin]

We should get a break for the KOM points.

 

[Tonton]

Cosnefroy in the break, eating the polka-dot elephant one point at a time. I don't see the wind being a factor. The sprinters will want it, will have it. The best outcome tomorrow is that Thibaut Pinot will get one more day to recover.

 

[Anderis]

Dumoulin to attack on the Cote de Luzencon. INEOS to panic and burn all their domestiques before the Col de Peyronnenc. Everything to come together between Col de Peyronnenc and Cote de Paulhe. Roglic to attack on Cote de Paulhe and drop everybody but Christophe Laporte. Laporte to have a mechanical in the last 200m gifting Roglic the stage win.

 

[Jspear]

Bennett for the win. Will tune in for the last 5k.

 

[Leinster]

Cosnefroy in the break, eating the polka-dot elephant one point at a time. I don't see the wind being a factor. The sprinters will want it, will have it. The best outcome tomorrow is that Thibaut Pinot will get one more day to recover.

Cosnefroy better have SOMEONE sprinting against him for that first KOM.

Whoever the break may be will gobble up the rest.

 

[Tonton]

Cosnefroy better have SOMEONE sprinting against him for that first KOM.

Whoever the break may be will gobble up the rest.

He's made this his objective for le Tour. Have the jersey for as long as he can, get TV time, make his family proud and the sponsors happy. Benoit is not quite ready to mix it up with the top riders who have the same attributes. As Dirty Harry put it, "a man's got to know its limitations" and I'm happy for him.

 

[Koronin]

Cosnefroy in the break, eating the polka-dot elephant one point at a time. I don't see the wind being a factor. The sprinters will want it, will have it. The best outcome tomorrow is that Thibaut Pinot will get one more day to recover.

Agreed.

Not just Pinot but a few others as well.

I guess the typical question of the Tour. Does anyone have any idea what Movistar is doing or planning on doing? Pre comments were all over the map. The team said they were racing for stages. Valverde said they had not form to race for anything at all. Mas said that they were racing for top 10 in GC and for stages. The only thing I see them doing is building form for later races.

 

[Tonton]

Agreed.

Not just Pinot but a few others as well.

I guess the typical question of the Tour. Does anyone have any idea what Movistar is doing or planning on doing? Pre comments were all over the map. The team said they were racing for stages. Valverde said they had not form to race for anything at all. Mas said that they were racing for top 10 in GC and for stages. The only thing I see them doing is building form for later races.

I would say that Movistar is in disarray, having so much talent been disgruntled over the years, their only appeal these days is the Spanish flag. I would bet a dollar that Valverde will be their best rider on this Tour, and when you think long-term, that's scary.

 

[Tonton]

Eusebio is no genius. He was just lucky to get the likes of BigMig to fall on his lap. To quote my favorite quote that Netserk no longer uses, but I love it, he's no Black Album, has never been good, way overrated. Just lucky. And for the past decade, he screwed up, not having any vision, when I believe and we can all agree that Movistar should have won (at least) one tour.

 

[Koronin]

I would say that Movistar is in disarray, having so much talent been disgruntled over the years, their only appeal these days is the Spanish flag. I would bet a dollar that Valverde will be their best rider on this Tour, and when you think long-term, that's scary.

Actually the scary part is that Valverde said 4 years ago at the Olympics that if he was the best Spanish rider for the 2020 Olympics at 40 years old they had more issues than just a 40 year old being their best rider. He wasn't wrong with that comment. Although I think Cortina is a very good rider, he's also a totally different type of rider.

The disgruntled talent is a combination of reasons, however it does come down to management not being as strong as it should be.

 

[tobydawq]

Enjoy the pretty bridge at the start of the stage, the Viaduc de Millau. When I was driving around in France it was suddenly just there, in front of and above me without me knowing anything about where in France it was located (though I had seen it on TV before). It seemed even bigger than it does on TV.

 

[SafeBet]

Great stage design. I know what to expect and won't be disappointed.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I think that this stage will be one of the most entertaining of the Tour. Hopefully one of the most impactful as well.

 

[Lequack]

I think that this stage will be one of the most entertaining of the Tour. Hopefully one of the most impactful as well.

I like your optimism, but I think it will be a typical Tour sprint stage with nothing happening. Kind of stage where you can watch the last 5km and you've seen everything.

 

[movingtarget]

Ewan v Bennett. Sprinters teams will work for this one.

 

[Lexman]

Sagan will try to make the break, DQS to chase the break...or put Bennett in it as well....

 

[Lequack]

Will Ineos ride for Yates now that he's movign to Ineos next year?

 

[Gigs_98]

Ewan Vol. 2

 

[ice&fire]

That whole D112 road looks pretty narrow. If echelons do happen, there won't be much room in the first one for 10 Flandriens, plus 10 GC captains and a few of their lieutenants each.

Is it my imagination, or have Roglic/Jumbo been caught out in crosswinds a couple of times in recent years? A DeClerq/Asgreen v Martin/VanAert drag race across Tarn with their captains in tow would frankly more than make up for everything that hasn't happened so far.

Roglic crashed in last year's Vuelta when the race was getting to speed fighting for position as they approached an open windy area. And he had been caught two days before when Quintana sneaked among the DQS gang.

 

[Red Rick]

Jumbo dropping time in crosswinds would be the most hilarious and exciting thing that could happen to the race

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Winds from SE are great for the two parts going N-S (up the Peyronnenc, approaching Castres), but unfortunately it's not going to be more than 9-10 kmh.
According to windy.com

 

[Volderke]

Enjoy the pretty bridge at the start of the stage, the Viaduc de Millau. When I was driving around in France it was suddenly just there, in front of and above me without me knowing anything about where in France it was located (though I had seen it on TV before). It seemed even bigger than it does on TV.

That solely depends on how big your TV is.

Crosswinds would work best on that D112 to the West, with SE wind (in the back). That enables the first echelon to go 60kmph with no hiding for those who are not fitting in that echelon. Only potential for max. gain of 30 seconds on that last stretch though.

 

[tobydawq]

That solely depends on how big your TV is.

Crosswinds would work best on that D112 to the West, with SE wind (in the back). That enables the first echelon to go 60kmph with no hiding for those who are not fitting in that echelon. Only potential for max. gain of 30 seconds on that last stretch though.

Well, it's smaller than the bridge