main events
18 km to go: Niewiadoma leads an attack from the group – Voss, Garcia and Fullering run with her as they approach the top. Then Voss stumbles a bit as she veers off the road before making a strong comeback, more woe to Garcia – a hole this time – and taking Manley as she stops to change bikes.
The Reusser still has a 25-30 second gap on the road.
21 kilometers to go: And now SD Worx’s Marilyn Roeser outdoes herself at the front, taking an advantage of about 15 seconds. This is a great performance from a rider who has been paralyzed by Covid this season. Her fellow Fullering is prominent in the group behind her.
However, there are a few climbs and a gravel section waiting for them.
25.5 km to go: Two QOM points for Misha Bredewold ahead of Elise Shabi, before Alina Amiliosk leads a group attack. The next ascent is the Côte de Vietri.
29 kilometers to go: Excellent work by irrepressible Cecilie Ludwig, to make up for that lost ground and get under 20 seconds off the pack. It’s the misfortune of Niewiadoma, though, who suffers from a puncture. The gravel parts come out of the riders as expected. But it did set up a potentially springy ending. There are about 20 in the leading group.
33 km to go: Well, Grace Brown came to the fore, but she’s striving for speed to help her FDJ Suez Futuroscope teammates. Then Van Dyck and Fullering came to the front. Voss remains among the leading group as well. Meanwhile, Margarita Garcia also has to replace a wheel and is striving to rejoin the pack. This is a hell of a shake.
35 km to go: In the gravel dust basin, we go again, a headwind of 13 km/h does not help, the attack of SD Worx, led by Lotte Kopecky, like Demay has been arrested. In the meantime, yesterday’s winner, Cecily Ludwig, has to replace a wheel. Vittoria Gwasini comes to her aid.
39 km to go: The peloton regroups with Damay now about 45 seconds ahead as the third gravel section looms – one of no less than 4.4 kilometers – while riding in Essoyes.
44 km to go: We move on to the next gravel sector, where clouds of dust rising from the surface impede visibility and mobility – and it looks like four bikes including Van Vleuten, rather than collapse, seem to have gathered, but they managed. decode. The Peloton is pretty much fragmented, with Elaine Van Dyck in the lead. Demay is still alone at the helm of the course.
48 km to go: Demay was dropped on the first climb, Asencio can’t keep up with Demay in this, she takes full QOM points and sprints away at the incline, gaining an advantage of about 20 seconds. Behind them, South African Ashley Mullman Paseo climbs hard towards the front in what appears to be a diabolical ascent.
50 km to go: Back on the smoother roads for a while, before another big climb, on the Cote de val des Clos, the main group gap in the yellow jersey set in the peloton settled at around 1:05. That group of three is now two, from Asensio and Demai after Demi was brought down.
Côte de Celles-sur-Ource points
56 km to go: Demi loses her spot to the other separate riders, with Coralie Demai leading and hitting the top first with Asensio on her tail when they hit the first stage of the gravel. It’s dusty and rugged just fine. It’s a challenge to strike a balance between caution and aggressiveness here.
The gap from leaders to peloton drops, as expected, to just over a minute. All sorts of fights are going on there as Vollering races to the front of the pack. Cassia niviadoma is also notable.
59 km to go: The leading group of Asencio, Demay and Demay join the riders to begin the first climb with the lead shrinking to around 1:50 as the road narrows to a touch and the peloton begins to come off; The race is starting to look more difficult. And look outside or Elisa Longo Borghini, who has positioned herself well towards the front of the peloton
Valerie Demme takes her first middle race
64 kilometers to go: Demi, as part of a breakaway trio who are positioning themselves in the impending twisty gravel section, takes full points in the race ahead of Asencio. This three indentation has a gap of about 2:20 of a peloton. Voss got nine handy points there.
Here are the full details:
1. Demi 25 points
2. Asensio 20 points
3. Demi 17 points
4. Whips 15 points
5. Confalonieri 13 points
6. Kopecky 11 points
7. Georgie 10 points
8. Voss 9 points
9. Swinkels 8 points
10. Paladin 7 Points
11. Kurivar 6 points
12- Amaliocic 5 points
13. Balsamo 4 points
14. Fullering 3 points
15. Van Dyck 2 points
73 km to go: This three-rider split now has over two minutes on the peloton but it’s still way too early. Women riders in the peloton hang out at the moment, as Voss on her right flanked the front with her Jumbo-Visma teammates.
82 kilometers to go: A more sustained break this time from Coralie Demai, Laura Ascencio and Valerie Demme and set off on a 1:12 lead. Voss was on a short collective breakaway attempt behind them but was severely marked as they deteriorated. We are about 11km from our first med race and 20km from our first gravel section – prepare for the mess.
89 km to go: Fortin is still up front heading towards Vendeuvre-sur-Barse, but the peloton is only 12-15 seconds behind.
Some radio discussions: Alan Amos wrote: “In terms of coverage from Eurosport, isn’t it just that ASO only sends from the middle of the race onwards and has nothing to do with Eurosport, who just do a poor job of communicating? Other channels, such as France 2 on this site, have been reported to be in the same the situation “.
Meanwhile, Paul Griffin just wants to let things be annoying: “Be grateful that Eurosport shows no cycling whatsoever. It’s not impossible to listen to the climax of the Tour of Flanders or Milan-San Remo and face a giant 12-ball pool from Phoenix; quarter-round The finalist of the Uruguay Open Mita Badminton from Montevideo, or worse, one of those groups of snowboarders who hit the soundtrack of what looks like he could play a Benny Hill theme on Kazuo.Upside: nobody On European mainland he has a better understanding of meta badminton tactics than I’m putting on the gauntlet there.
95 km to go: Once I clear that roster, the attackers are caught before French rider Valentin Fortin of Cofidis single-handedly takes the lead, by about 15 seconds.
This whole early separation: balsam. Magirus, Rosser, Lownett, Henderson, Marcus; Georgi, Cromwell Koch, Bogard, Manley, Lach, Gasparini, Alzini, Corivar, Kant, Schoenberger, Vandenbulk, Breedwald, Burgstrom, Allen, Leith, Puigsmann. None of the leading GC . contenders went with them
104 km to go: The first wave of action saw a brief breakup with three riders – Martina Alzini (Cofidis), Thalita de Jong (Live Racing Extra) and Marta Lach – but the peloton caught them a few kilometers away. Before a more significant move out of a group of 23 riders, they opened a gap of about 10 to 15 seconds.
118 km to go: Nothing significant to report yet – eight kilometers and no breaks yet; peloton still quite. Meanwhile, Eurosport is currently doing this slightly crazy thing of continuing to exaggerate yesterday’s highlights rather than showing off early live things today. Although it does give us a chance to enjoy Ludwig’s emotionally happy interview after her victory on stage yesterday.
some details In the much discussed gravel sections today – the first greets the riders at 68.1 kilometers, the second at 77.4 kilometers, then one at 89 kilometers and the fourth at 106 kilometers. The races are underway.
A little bit of good news: All 131 participants from yesterday are ready to come back today again. There were no withdrawals
It’s manageably warm 25 degrees into the attractive city center of Troyes as the riders begin their way – they will make a 6.9km parade through Troyes to urge us on. Only 126.8 km away…
How they stand:
GC ranking reminder after 3rd stage
1 Marianne Voss (Jumbo Visma) 08h 30′ 36′
2 Silvia Persico (Valcar- Travel & Service) + 00 h 00 ’16’
3 Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon / Sram Racing) + 00 h 00 ’16’
4 Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) + 00:00 21”
5 Ashley Mullman Paseo (SD Worx) + 00 h 00 ’51’
6 Margherita Victo Garcia Canelas (ADQ UAE Team) + 00 h 00 ’55’
7 Demi Fullering (SD Worx) + 00 h 00 ’57’
8 Juliette Lapus (Team DSM) + 00 h 01 ’05’
9 Anime Van Floten (Movistar Women’s Team) + 00h 01min 14inch
10 Cecily Ludwig (FDJ Suez Futuroscope) + 00 h 01 ’48’
Reading before the race:
Here’s yesterday’s report from our guy at Épernay, Jeremy Whittle:
Preamble
everyone in the afternoonand welcome to what could be a pivotal stage, and it will surely be a challenging stage of Tour de France. It’s been a very convincing race so far, and while we might not be surprised to find Marianne Voss in the yellow jersey, she had to work really hard for it, and was sensationally fixed yesterday by Cecily Otrop Ludwig, the Danish rider who has brilliantly recovered From her second phase of the horror program.
Ludwig should be reasonably suited for the day’s stage as well, a demanding stage, featuring gravel sections and five rated climbs before descending swiftly through the winding streets of Bar-sur-Aube at the end. Voss is expected to retain its overall lead, but Canyon-SRAM’s Cassia Niviadoma, who is third in the GC standings, and Paris-Roubaix winner Elisa Longo Borghini may also be in the mix.
The riders kick off around 12pm GMT/1pm CET. stay tuned
