Imagine being one of the 169 riders left in the 2017 Tour de France. You’re three days away from finishing the race. You’ve survived five mountain ranges. (Thursday’s stage ended with one of the highest summit finishes in Tour de France history.) So what does the Tour give you?The longest stage of the race. And it’s not easy.Before Quick-Step’s Marcel Kittel dropped out of the race, this day look destined to end with a field sprint. But with Kittel gone and Team Sunweb’s Michael Matthews comfortably in control of the green jersey Kittel vacated, a breakaway stands a chance of staying away to the end. If anyone chases, expect it to be Lotto Soudal, Katusha, and Cofidis, for Andre Greipel, Alexander Kristoff, and Nacer Bouhanni, respectively. But if the breakaway’s advantage is too large or the peloton is too tired after two hard days in the Alps (or both), this will be the last chance for many of the riders still in the race to win something.RELATED: How a Tour Breakaway Works
As for the General Classification, Provence can be quite windy, and if there are crosswinds as the race zigzags towards the finish line, we could see the race split into echelons. Team Sky and Froome shouldn’t have any trouble with these, but they could pose a problem for the men fighting for the podium, should they be caught off-guard by the splits.
If the sprinters’ teams do bring the race back together, a technical finish with three sharp corners in the final 1200 metres awaits. Riders hoping to make it through those corners first might need to hit the front a bit earlier than usual to get the best and fastest lines.
