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Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 4: Redon - Fougères, 150.4 km

Stage 4: Redon – Fougères, 150.4 km
Absolutely nothing to praise here. No GPM, another sprint stage without a big-name battle to look forward to after today's crashes, and probably even more crashes given that the route, while less bad than today, is less than safe. And then we still haven't seen the most dangerous finale of this year's race...

Map and profile
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Route details
…are there any? The intermediate sprint in Vitré, at the location where the Route Adélie finishes, is the only point of interest, and comes late enough that any breakaway may well be reeled in ahead of it if someone wants maximum points. Then again, who is still going for green right now?

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Final kilometers
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The final 2.9 kilometers are identical to those in the 2015 stage, won by Mark Cavendish.


The 5 kilometers before that are wide and more or less straight, so the battle to hit the ensuing roundabout first will be fierce.

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From there, it’s the same roundabout where the right side is much shorter at 1.9 kilometers to go, the same two roundabouts after the flamme rouge, and the same slight uphill drag into a gentle right-hand curve that ensures the finish line will be in sight even later than on the previous stage. The only saving grace is that this finale was okay in 2015 crash-wise...
 
Rennes is a large city & they ride around it entirely. And once again, we go into smaller conglomerations with narrow roads for a sprint stage finish.

There's a pattern here (now evident after today) & I don't like it. Sprints need large boulevards, not a backstreet behind the café du coin.
Unlike the U.S., towns this size in France (it’s a beautiful old historic city) don’t have a freeway or major highway run right through the middle. Even when driving a car into these towns one has to be aware of where the road is going to significantly narrow and what additional obstacles are going to appear. A town like Fougeres paid for the tour finish to highlight the town’s tourism potential. Finishing outside of town won’t have the same impact (in their minds anyways) as finishing in the old part of town. It also makes it more interesting viewing. Towns paying for finish lines and people watching broadcasts help pay for stage races. If folks are going to suggest that the Tour not finish in the old centre villes than you should also suggest what you think the revised economic model will be.
 
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Unlike the U.S., towns this size in France (it’s a beautiful old historic city) don’t have a freeway or major highway run right through the middle. Even when driving a car into these towns one has to be aware of where the road is going to significantly narrow and what additional obstacles are going to appear. A town like Fougeres paid for the tour finish to highlight the town’s tourism potential. Finishing outside of town won’t have the same impact (in their minds anyways) as finishing in the old part of town. It also makes it more interesting viewing. Towns paying for finish lines and people watching broadcasts help pay for stage races. If folks are going to suggest that the Tour not finish in the old centre villes than you should also suggest what you think the revised economic model will be.

Isn't Rackham French...? He probably knows what French towns look like... ;)
 
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Unlike the U.S., towns this size in France (it’s a beautiful old historic city) don’t have a freeway or major highway run right through the middle. Even when driving a car into these towns one has to be aware of where the road is going to significantly narrow and what additional obstacles are going to appear. A town like Fougeres paid for the tour finish to highlight the town’s tourism potential. Finishing outside of town won’t have the same impact (in their minds anyways) as finishing in the old part of town. It also makes it more interesting viewing. Towns paying for finish lines and people watching broadcasts help pay for stage races. If folks are going to suggest that the Tour not finish in the old centre villes than you should also suggest what you think the revised economic model will be.
Tomorrow's stage, or most of the other sprints this Tour for that matter, don't finish in the old part of town though, in fact they won't even pass through it tomorrow.
 
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