Tuesday’s stage to Nogaro was, in the words of the winner Jasper Philipsen, “the most boring Tour de France stage for a long time”.
For 100km, the bunch spun calmly through the fields of Nouvelle Aquitaine. Farms swept beside them, the peloton as docile as their grazing residents, who for once had time to savour the passing race between mouthfuls of fresh grass.
