Week two of the 2024 Tour de France begins with a four-day ride south to the Pyrénées, starting with stage 10, from Orléans to Saint-Amand-Montrond. The 187.3km day, on paper, looks like a straightforward run for the sprinters but history has shown there is a risk it could be anything but an easy return from the rest day for the overall contenders.
Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) may have good memories from that memorable 2013 Tour de France stage to Saint-Amand-Montrond, where he sprinted to victory ahead of a green jersey-clad Peter Sagan to claim his 25th win but the GC contenders may be hoping for a less chaotic day than unfolded a little over a decade ago.
Cavendish claimed that win from a leading group of eight as the field was stretched out and scattered behind after the race was unexpectedly affected by wind and echelons. That allowed Alberto Contador and Bauke Mollema to pull back more than a minute on Chris Froome while a puncture hit Alejandro Valverde plunged down the overall standings from second to 16th after losing almost ten minutes.
This time around, it would take far less to dramatically alter the GC landscape, with race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) just 33 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) 1:15 back, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) another 19 seconds behind in fourth.
In 2024 the race heads out of Orléans and through the Sologne forest, on flat and protected roads for the first 62 kilometres to Issoudun but that changes once in the Cher department, where the riders will find themselves working their way towards Saint-Amand-Montrond on roads exposed to the crosswinds.
With three direction switches in the last 30 kilometres, there will be a real chance of echelons forming just like they did during the stage in the area just over a decade ago but no doubt this time, given the history, the overall contenders will be on high alert.
As will be the teams of the sprinters, who will not want to miss out on this chance to either start or add to their Tour tally.
Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) will be looking for his third Tour de France stage win, after being the only rider so far to have claimed two stages in the 2024 race. Stage 6 winner Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) may well be slipping on his aero sunglasses to try and double up as well while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who dominated the sprints last year, will be chasing his first win of this edition, after having come close with second on stage 8's last sprint battle.
Then, of course, there is Cavendish, who took his record-breaking 35th victory on stage 5, but certainly hasn't given up the hunt – perhaps he could make it a 36th in Saint-Amand-Montrond.
Stage 10 Sprints
- Intermediate sprint, km 57.1
