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Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 5 (Lille Métropole – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, 157k)

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My predictions:

  1. a hard fight between many riders for the breakaway (the stage is only 157km, so everyone who is at +5 minutes and doesn't want to get caught in crashes on the cobbles, will want to escape)
  2. No Cort in the breakaway;
  3. action/nervousness in the peloton starting on the first cobbles (secteur 11), and if not, for sure on secteur 10 (downhill section = chance there are crashes). From the most Southernly point they ride North / North east. Wind is coming from the West. So many sections will be exposed. From the 3rd section, there's only around 50K (or the equivalent of an hour) to race. So from that point, I can't see it slowing down anymore, and I'm hoping for a breathless hour of all-out racing with some crosswinds and hopefully not too much crashes and mechanicals...
 
Difficult balance for Ineos and JV. Ineos have 3 leaders, so how do they split their resources? For instance, if G is in position to put time into some GC rivals and has Ganna, DvB and Pidcock for company, but Yates and Martinez are struggling, how is that managed? Similar situation for JV. 2 GC guys and a likely stage winner who's also wearing yellow, to complicate things further. Do they try for the stage, prioritise keeping yellow or keep one or both GC guys protected? QS aside, they're probably the 2 strongest teams for this stage, so their tactics and decisions on the road will likely determine the stage outcome.
 
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The cobbles won't be the hardest part of this stage.
The hardest will be the fight for position by a nervous, fresh peloton hitting cobbles after less than 100K in the race, knowing there is only a bit over an hour left racing.
And I truly hope for some teams drilling it with the side wind, in between the cobbled sections.

I honestly can't see anything else than this stage being raced hard, as so many in the peloton haven't done anything this Tour (a short TT, 2 'easy' stages in Denmark, not too much action until deep in the finale yesterday), so all riders should be fresh and hungry. I put VdP in my tour manager as favourite for the day, but it could be anyone that isn't dangerous for GC / doesn't have to shepherd his GC favourite.
 
Nairo Quintana on Ladbrokes at 401 seems a little under the odds for me haha
He's gone quite well on tbe cobbles in previous Tours, if I remember correctly, but yeah, no odds are wide enough there.

I quite like Taco van der Hoorn at 67-1. Got the game, the form, his team are having a great year, almost certainly will get a free reign and not have to support Meintjes, and has dropped 5 mins already, so could get some leeway there .
 
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He's gone quite well on tbe cobbles in previous Tours, if I remember correctly, but yeah, no odds are wide enough there.

I quite like Taco van der Hoorn at 67-1. Got the game, the form, his team are having a great year, almost certainly will get a free reign and not have to support Meintjes, and has dropped 5 mins already, so could get some leeway there .
I have a sneaky 10 on Taco and Senechal, will need alot to go right but you never know.

Haha yeah Id just want a little more odds to ever imagine Nairo ridding away from the peleton on cobbles.
 
My outside bet is Taco from break, who has already been mentioned by other users. Nevertheless I don't think the break has much of a chance today.

Among the GC, Jumbo needs to drill it and hope Pogacar is isolated or badly placed as yesterday. Regarding second tier of favourites, I expect Thomas and Vlasov to perform well.

Mas, Uran, Meintjes should be the least favoured among Top-10 contenders.
 

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