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

Page 6 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
It's interesting that AF does not take part in Intermediate sprints, neither with Merlier, Philipsen or MvdP.

It tells me the team has no designs on green.

On the other hand, Cavendish is very active in the Intermediate sprints.

it would be pretty cool, if he ends up in green on Paris, in what is arguably his last Tour - at least with a top team.
 
I mean, theoretically you could, but that would cheapen the race aspect significantly. Also, riders have fallen in the safety zone and broken a bone before.

But what you could do is decide on different perimeters by stage, you could make it a flexible line (decided before the stage starts) between 1 and 10 kms for example depending on how the stage finish looks.
Yes, based on some kind of stage coefficient you can determine the safety zone.
But it won't prevent crashes, just make them not affect the standings (which, of course, is something).
It becomes the topic when something happens, otherwise is fine.
Not exactly the most valid argument about the width of the zone.
 
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Yes, based on some kind of stage coefficient you can determine the safety zone.
But it won't prevent crashes, just make them not affect the standings (which, of course, is something).
It becomes the topic when something happens, otherwise is fine.
Not exactly the most valid argument about the width of the zone.

But we also don't know what crashes didn't happen because of the 1km/3km rule. It's not really possible to prove either way.

I think it does relax the race situation to a certain extent, probably lowering the risks for the riders when fewer men are competing for limited space on the road.
 
Maybe Cavendish's first objective is just to get to wear the green jersey again. But imagine the lead Alaphilippe would have had in the competition, if Mørkøv had ridden the intermediates for him and instead saved Cav for the finals.

That requires Alahpilippe to be able to sit calmly on a wheel, for a period of time, instead of swerving all over the place, crating gaps, closing gaps again, looking right, looking left, waving at a spectator, talking to a rider, grabbing a bottle from a cousin, or whatever else he might get up to, in the last 1K.
 
That requires Alahpilippe to be able to sit calmly on a wheel, for a period of time, instead of swerving all over the place, crating gaps, closing gaps again, looking right, looking left, waving at a spectator, talking to a rider, grabbing a bottle from a cousin, or whatever else he might get up to, in the last 1K.

Yeah, that wouldn't really be his cup of tea. Rolf Sørensen did say earlier, that Ala could easily win it if he set his mind on it, but I think most of the peloton would appreciate it if he never does. I also think he would have a hard time achieving it anyway.
 
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