Tim Merlier of the Soudal-Quick Step team won the seventh stage of the Tour de France in a classic sprinter’s finish on the banks of the Garonne in Bordeaux.
As the Tour headed away from the Pyrenees, through Gascony towards the Atlantic coast, a lull settled over a shell-shocked peloton as it came to terms with the demonstration of domination from Tadej Pogacar in Thursday’s mountain stage to Gavarnie-Gèdre.
“What now?” was the question on most lips as the convoy gathered the morning after Pogacar’s Tourmalet masterclass, which took him into a seemingly unassailable lead on perennial rival, Jonas Vingegaard, the winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia.
The consensus is that, unless the defending champion crashes or gets ill, victory is already assured. It’s a measure of his superiority that with only six stages of 21 raced so far, the conversation has already moved on to the fight for second and third place.
Here’s an arty shot of Isaac del Toro on the podium. Jeremy Whittle’s stage report will be coming up soon.
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“Leaving aside the fact that Alpecin mistimed their lead out, Philipsen clearly moved off his line to block Gaviria,” emails Adam. “He needs to be hauled in front of the commissaires!”
Velogames-wise, I love the idea that Pedersen could win tomorrow. But based on the form today, if Merlier gets a clear sight of goal, who is going to beat him?
There may be a little bit of tension at the Alpecin-Premier Tech dinner table tonight. I hope they eat well, because there is plenty more work for them to do tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, I am back in the hotseat for stage eight.
Here is William Fotheringham’s preview:
Stage eight, Saturday 11 July: Périgueux to Bergerac, 180.4km
Another day for the fast men, with only a couple of fourth-category molehills along the way. Expect the usual pattern of a doomed early escape by teams lacking a sprinter or general classification rider: Uno-X, TotalEnergies, Caja Rural. They will be swept up by the peloton late on, but the twist now is that the sprint trains do not like to use up their riders until the last minute, so the final kilometres become a poker game and Merlier’s Soudal are the masters of this. For a winner, pick Philipsen or Merlier or an outside bet such as Girmay or Mads Pedersen.
Philipsen may feel he let his teammates down there, given all their hard work throughout the stage and to drop him off near the finish, but perhaps it was the other way around. Given the class in that team, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Philipsen win tomorrow.
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Tadej Pogacar on the podium:
On TNT Sports, Adam Blythe believes Van der Poel and Alpecin-Premier Tech got the lead-out wrong. He reckons Van der Poel could have eased off, and waited another 100m or so.
(Given the result, it’s hard to argue.)
“It’s so difficult, at that point of the race, to wait,” says Blythe. “Philipsen was just dropped off too early.”
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Top 10 GC
General classification after stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 24hr 56’ 17’’
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), +2min 42sec
3. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), +3 min 27sec
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +3min 30sec
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) + 3min 34sec
6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) +3min 55sec
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4min
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) +4min 21sec
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) at +4min 57sec
10. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) at +7min 10sec
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Points classification, top 10 after stage seven
1) Pedersen 204pts
2) Girmay 145pts
3) Kanter 140pts
4) Merlier 134pts
5) Philipsen 126pts
6) Pogacar 75pts
7) Waerenskjold 73pts
8) Kooij 70pts
9) Turgis 64pts
10) Vingegaard 61pts
Stage seven: Top 10
1) Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
2) Warerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility)
3) Girmay (NSN)
4) Kanter (XDS Astana)
5) Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
6) Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious)
7) Artz (Lotto Intermarché)
8) Godon (Netcompany-Ineos)
9) Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
10) Van Asbroeck (NSN Cycling Team)
That was Merlier’s fourth Tour de France stage win. He pointed that out to the interviewer, who said it was No 3 in his opening question.
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Tim Merlier speaks. Was it a perfectly-timed sprint?
“Perfectly, I don’t know. It was a mess to be in position. But I make it, thanks to the team, great work from them. After all the work two days ago, and today, we were the only team with Alpecin who were riding to take the breakaway back … so I’m happy it’s not another team who won.”
Was he following Philipsen’s wheel? “Yeah. I followed Jasper. Lost him. They box me away … I got a bit more space, time to give the legs a bit of air, then in the last 600m I got boxed in … I thought to myself: ‘No, you’re going to fight to the finish.’ And yeah. Happy I can take it.
“It’s only my third Tour de France. Every participation, I take a win, So yeah, it makes me proud.”
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In a revealing pre-stage interview, Merlier predicted that the final sprint would be “fast”.
“My motivation is … I want to win another stage in the Tour de France,” he added.
He may not be a regular on the after-dinner speaking circuit in retirement.
A good celebration from Merlier, too, nonchalantly brushing each shoulder after taking the chequered flag.
Stage seven - top five
1. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step)
2. Soren Warerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility)
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN)
4. Max Kanter (XDS Astana)
5. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
Merlier showed incredible patience there. He was sitting in the slipstream Warerenskjold until about 150m out. He nipped around him and just had way too much power for everyone else.
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Alpecin–Premier Tech couldn’t have done any more for Philipsen. But they dropped him off too soon, into a headwind, it seems. And he ran out of gas v Merlier.
“It was a perfect lead-out if it was a tailwind,” says Adam Blythe on TNT Sports. “They just dropped him off too early.”
Tim Merlier wins Tour de France stage seven!
Wow, what a sprint. Philipsen was dropped off by Van der Poel, and nearly forced Gaviria into the barriers on the right … but Merlier had room to move left, and once he had clear air in front of him, there was no stopping him. That was a phenomenal finish by Merlier, and thank God, everyone stayed upright.
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1.5km to go: Alpecin–Premier Tech look to be in control. They have the numbers v the other sprint teams.
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2km to go: Girmay is well placed. Kooij is there too – what kind of pace can he show against the likes of Merlier and Philipsen?
3.5km to go: Strung out at the front and a hot pace. Netcompany-Ineos and Cofidis are prominent. Alpecin–Premier Tech are a little further back, for Philipsen.
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4.5km to go: Through a big right-hander, then two left-handers, and over the river for the final kick …
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5km to go: There is a lot of argy-bargy at the front of the peloton. Elbows out.
6km to go: NetCompany-Ineos are well placed for Dorian Godon.
7km to go: Down to one lane. The peloton is squeezed hard, but everyone makes it through safely. This is the time when the lead-out trains really need to switch on. Who will be enjoying a glass of champagne with dinner later?
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8km to go: We are approaching the pinch point that Matt Winston mentioned on the radio. First another big roundabout …
9km to go: There are roundabouts to negotiate. Some riders are guessing wrong, and losing places by taking a slightly longer route around the road furniture.
Kooij, Merlier, Philipsen are all up there.
11km to go: Another attack from Uno-X Mobility. Abrahamsen again. He briefly gets a gap, but it would take a superhuman effort to burst away from the peloton moving at this pace.
12km to go: Lovely photography from Tim de Waele over in France. That’s Le Pont de Cadillac.
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15km to go: “This is important, so listen,” says Matt Winston on the Picnic PostNL team radio. “At 7.2km to go, the road goes to one lane wide, on the right side of the road.”
That sounds like a lot of fun, if you’re hitting it at 50km/h with 200 ultra-competitive professional cyclists.
16km to go: “It’s a waiting game at the moment,” says Sean Kelly of the sprinters’ teams. And indeed it seems like the pace isn’t too hot, with no team wanting to force the issue too early.
18km to go: All together. The two escapees are finally caught. Still, the marketing teams of Lotto–Intermarché and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA will be thrilled with all that TV time.
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19km to go: The riders will hit Bordeaux from the south. The finale is technical, negotiating a few roundabouts in the city, then heading over a bridge before a flat-out sprint for the finish line on the west side of the River Garonne.
20km to go: Just 9sec for the break. I think they just shook hands or bumped fists to say – OK, nice job, but we are caught.
In fact, Veistroffer tried to attack solo, but Otruba wasn’t having it and stayed glued to his fellow escapee’s wheel. And then Veistroffer offered the hand of peace.
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22km to go: Two Uno-X Mobility riders attack! Jonas Abrahamsen fancies a cheeky stage win off the front, denying the sprinters’ teams. Don’t we all?
23km to go: The peloton winds through the streets of Le Tourne. The church bells are ringing, to celebrate the Tour coming to town. The gap is down to 22sec.
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25km to go: There is a spot of rain in Bordeaux.
26km to go: The gap is down to 30sec. Will we see any counterattacks once the break is caught? Veistroffer and Otruba have put in a sensational shift at the front. When they first broke away, it was all fun and games, with the peloton taking it very slow behind. It’s a different story now.
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33km to go: This is the 81st time that Bordeaux has hosted a Tour de France stage finish. It featured in 1903, the first ever Tour. Only Paris has hosted more stage finishes.
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35km to go: Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) attacked on the climb, but it was swiftly shut down by the sprinters’ teams.
38km to go: Veistroffer leads Otruba up the category-four climb. They have another full-on race, this time for a solitary KOM point … and again, Veistroffer takes the win.
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40km to go: The telly helicopter shows us the Château ducal de Cadillac, a suitably impressive pile.
Let’s turn to TripAdvisor for some information: “The Chateau of Cadillac, built from 1599, illustrates all the Jean-Louis Nogaret of Valette’s power, a “cadet de Gascogne” who experienced a dazzling rise to become first Duke of Epernon, and be called “King in all but name”. It presents the largest collection of 16th & 17th tapestries within French national heritage buildings. And served as a womens’ prison from 1818 to 1952.”
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42km to go: Just 56sec for the break now. The escapees – fugitives, if you use translation software which of course I do not – head across a bridge, over La Garonne at Le Pont de Cadillac. The category-four climb is imminent.
45km to go: On TNT Sports, Carlton and Jonathan are talking about the majesty of the Tour de France. Carlton says the race is important for French tourism – so much so that the race security (police bikes etc.) is state-funded, but the Giro and Vuelta organisers have to pay for that themselves.
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50km to go: The escapees are really riding hard. They have 1min 45sec now. The chasing bunch are not hanging around any longer. And the sprinters teams won’t want any nervousness when it comes to catching the break before Bordeaux.
The Côte de Béguey, a category-four climb, is on the way shortly.
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Intermediate sprint: top 10
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Veistroffer 25pts
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Otruba 20pts
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Pedersen 16pts
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Girmay 14pts
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Kanter 12pts
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Philipsen 10pts
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Merlier 9pts
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Turgis 8pts
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Van Asbroeck 7pts
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Matthews 6pts
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Pedersen, in the green jersey, wins the drag race for third place at the intermediate sprint. Doubtless he will go for the best-possible finish in Bordeaux, too. #MadsForIt
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Veistroffer wins the intermediate sprint at Landiras
Otruba second … They both wanted that and raced hard for it, but Veistroffer had too much.
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56km to go: A bit of politics from close to the finish in Bordeaux. Well, sort of.
“Support for CB is growing!” emails Sam. “Just seen at the 300m finish in Bordeaux. Allez Le Count!”
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58km to go: Sean Kelly is talking about bike tech, and how a modern bike is much faster than one that’s 15 years old. He says on a newer bike, you can stay in a group at very high speed without much effort. And that’s the reason (or perhaps the most important reason) that average speeds are going up and up when it comes to the grand tours.
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60km to go: The two riders at the front are pushing on impressively. It was possible to believe this was an “easy” day for all concerned but that isn’t the case anymore.
Under 5km until the intermediate.
65km to go: Under 10km to go until the intermediate sprint. The two-man break still has a one-minute gap. But the pace has noticeably picked up in the chasing pack, with plenty of jostling for position to come before Landiras and the sprint point.
Having picked Pedersen in my Velogames team, I’m very much #TeamMads in the green jersey competition.
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70km to go: Merlier has three stages in the Tour to his name. Philipsen has 10. Is it between those two for the stage today, all else being equal? Will Olav Kooij and Decathlon-CMA CGM have a say?
Renshaw said earlier that Decathlon-CMA CGM have different objectives at this race – GC for Paul Seixas and stages for Kooij – and as a result, they don’t have a full lead-out train here. Given the quality of his team, Philipsen is surely favourite.
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72km to go: We have another 17km of racing before the intermediate sprint.
So it seems the bunch will fight for third place across the line, with the breakaway mopping up the first two places.
74km to go: “A fast one,” Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick-Step says, asked what the final sprint will be like in Bordeaux today.
“Also there is a not a lot of space. Position-wise it’ll be really important, I think.
“Like I said, not a lot of space. The sprint will be really fast. You need to be there.”
Apparently, Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) said he is motivated to win for his daughter. What about Merlier?
“My motivation is … I want to win another stage in the Tour de France.”
haha! Brilliant, that. Thanks Tim.
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78km to go: The TV helicopter treats us to a lingering shot of some castle or other.
Unfortunately I don’t have the official Tour de France regional info guide to read out, a la Paul Sherwen in the glory days of C4/ITV coverage.
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80km to go: “They’re riding really strong,” says Sean Kelly of the two-man break. “But the peloton could give them more like two, two-and-a-half minutes, because they’re going to start feeling the effects in the final 40, 50km … the riders will like this, you don’t have to put much effort in to follow the wheels … whereas if you really go slow, it can be more difficult.”
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81km to go: We’ve just broken through the 1,000km mark for this Tour de France.
A mere 2,321.2km until the finish line in Paris.
83km to go: With Otruba in the Tour de France breakaway again, and an all-Czech final in the women’s singles at Wimbledon – what a week it’s shaping up to be for Czech sport.
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87km to go: Czech this out, stolen from the official TdF feed:
“Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), part of the breakaway, is one of three Czech riders in the Tour de France 2026, alongside Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL). This brings the total number of Czech riders to have taken part in the race to 17.
“The roots of Czech cycling lie in the illustrious history of the Peace Race. An international event in the second half of the 20th century, it produced champions, starting with the iconic Jan Vesely, and paved the way for a ‘little sister’ event, the Junior Peace Race, which today attracts the stars of tomorrow.”
And who could forget Zdenek Stybar? He was decent.
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91km to go: The gap is out to 1min 30sec after a few riders in the bunch stopped for a natural break.
Meanwhile, here’s the obligatory Citroën 2CV shot:
And how about the equally obligatory pastel-coloured window shutters shot:
94km to go: In terms of other sport today, we’ve got tennis:
Football, AKA soccer, AKA World Cup:
And a dash of cricket:
95km to go: That all sounds highly plausible as to the wine region(s), I simply searched “Bordeaux wine” for the purposes of that photo.
Meanwhile, the gap is down to 45sec. “It really is cat-and-mouse,” says Hatch on commentary, as the bunch slows up again, not wanting to catch the break just yet.
99km to go: Now, an email entitled: “Saint-Émilion photo, 136km”
“Small correction regarding photo,” writes Matjaz.
“Today’s route is taking Tour de France through the vine region called Entre Deux Mers, Between Two Seas, between rivers Dordogne in the north and Garonne in the south. In fact it is going all the time close to Garonne, the most north village will be Caprai.
“Saint-Émilion is good 50km north from there, just north across Dordogne in completely different region of Bordeaux vine, Libournais. Together with Pomerol they are in fact both just ‘suburbs’ of Libourne.
“But I agree with Jonathan, local vines are excellent, you can get splendid Grand Vin du Bordeaux from Entre Deux Mers for 5-6 euros in shops.”
100km to go: We’re nearly halfway through this line-and-length flat stage. The finale is going to be exciting, I will say that much.
101km to go: An email from Amy entitled: “Send you cake?!”
“Luke, you’re in France. I’m a good baker, to be sure, but anything I send would be stale crumbs by the time it arrived. Revel in the local bounty!”
It’s a very fair point. Thanks Amy. Although our reporter Jeremy Whittle is in France, while I am merely a humble live-blogger in London.
103km to go: The riders in the peloton head through a feed zone.
Up front, Veistroffer and Otruba are riding a bit more seriously now.
On the telly, they are replaying a moment that occurred a few minutes ago, when Uno-X Mobility looked ready to attack, coming past the pacesetters, Alpecin-Premier Tech. Dunno what that’s all about, if I’m honest.
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106km to go: “We live down the road so went to catch a glimpse of the Tour,” emails Ger.
“2.5 hrs beforehand we found ourselves 10 metres from the start. Ok it was bloody hot, but we’ve got some incredible photos.
“The whole thing is a brilliant carnival. Cold beer in hand now.”
108km to go: Suddenly, it’s strung out at the front. Equally suddenly, it all seems to calm down, and the bunch comes back together. The gap is 55sec. It’s 50-odd km to the intermediate sprint. Pedersen obviously has good form, and fancies harvesting another 25pts at the intermediate sprint … but anyway, it’s a false alarm in terms of the race becoming more animated.
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109km to go: The gap is 48sec. Mads Pedersen attacks in the green jersey!
WE HAVE A RACE!
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111km to go: In motorsport news that’s vaguely related to this Tour de France: Last month I covered the Barcelona-Catalunya grand prix, and I stayed in Granollers, north of Barcelona – which is where stage three began. That was the day that spectators were banned from the French part of the route, due to wildfires nearby.
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112km to go: The commentators are now talking about motorsport. Now we see a large sponsor’s watch, displaying the temperature, that reads 49C?!! It’s not clear where it is, exactly … but that’s hot.
113km to go: The gap is back under a minute. Careful now …
115km to go: There are some fans in inflatable dinosaur outfits at roadside. What else is there to say?
I’ve had a slice of cake, but I’m thinking I might need another one. While we are on the subject, why doesn’t anyone send us cake, like the listeners do for the Test Match Special commentators?
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116km to go: Why not have a bash at our sports quiz of the week?
119km to go: Tom Steels (Soudal Quickstep) was the DS on the radio a while back telling his riders to give the breakaway more time, says the commentator Rob Hatch. Robbie McEwen reckons an easy day now makes the finish in Bordeaux more hectic and more dangerous, with everyone full of beans.
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120km to go: The gap is 1min 13sec.
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124km to go: “Beautiful city. Good wine,” said Jasper Philipsen before the stage. Wise words.
“The finish is technical, alongside the river, we have to be attentive, and try to be ready in good position.
“We have a strong squad for the lead out. Hopefully we can play to our strengths.”
Mathieu van der Poel is a handy man to have leading you out, and no mistake.
Team Ramses Debruyne, Silvan Dillier, Tim Marsman, Jasper Philipsen, Edward Planckaert, Mathieu van der Poel, Jonas Rickaert, Emiel Verstrynge.
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130km to go: Jonathan Harris-Bass is doing a recipe on TNT Sports, so I’m going to nip to the canteen quickly. Hold the fort, please.
131km to go: Renshaw added that Olaf Kooij is confident he can “come over the top of” Tim Merlier in a sprint.
As Renshaw said, hopefully we get a clean sprint between the fastest men in the race later. Something to cling on to look forward to.
132km to go: The sports director Mark Renshaw (Decathlon CMA CGM) is asked about the sprint finish today. “It’s difficult,” he says. “We are juggling two objectives, we don’t have a full leadout train here … to time it right, not get caught too far back, but also not be caught on the front: it’s a fine line … everybody knows this finish well. It’s iconic in the Tour de France. The guys have watched 10 videos of the final. We know what’s going to happen.
“I keep my fingers crossed for a nice, clean sprint … and may the best man win.”
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136km to go: Alpecin-Premier Tech continue to set the pace, such as it is, at the front of the bunch. The gap is 1min 17sec. Carlton Kirby is off, talking about his upbringing in the Derbyshire Dales. Then Jonathan Harris-Bass says he likes the local wines (Bordeaux not Derbyshire). Naturally, as he is a connoisseur, not necessarily the famous ones – the lesser-known varieties are delicious, he says.
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138km to go: TNT Sports had a chat with Mads Pedersen earlier and suggested he had a “picnic” with Victor Campanaerts in the early breakaway yesterday.
“It was a tough picnic,” says Pedersen. “It was hard-earned points yesterday.”
Of today, the points classification leader adds:
“It’s important every day to get as many points as possible. Hopefully, I can keep some of my big contenders behind me in the sprints.”
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140km to go: The gap is 1min 20sec between the two-man break and peloton.
143km to go: You lucky people, I’ve got more of my photos to share from Bordeaux in 2010. (These two I actually uploaded a year or two ago, on the occasion of another sprint stage ending in the south-western city.)
Here is Cav winning the bunch sprint by miles:
And here is happy Cav chatting to the media:
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144km to go: Alpecin-Premier Tech are riding on the front. Happy fans line the roadsides and applaud the peloton as it rumbles past. The gap is 1min 08sec between the peloton and our two-man break: Veistroffer and Otruba.
146km to go: The race is heading through the streets of Mont-de-Marsan. The average pace has picked up a bit, to 44.4km/h.
I can exclusively reveal that I averaged 23km/h on this morning’s bike ride to the office.
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147km to go: Jens Voigt, on the TNT Sports motorbike, says it was 29C at the start and about 31C now. “Ten degrees less than it was two days ago,” he says, gratefully.
149km to go: It’s under a minute for the two-man break now. On commentary, Carlton Kirby observes that the directeurs sportifs will be on the radio, telling their men to ease off and make sure they don’t catch the break by mistake … because they want to keep this day nice and easy for now.
151km to go: “I’ve been struggling with the heat,” says Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling Team) on TNT Sports … “The route hasn’t suited me so well this year, and I’ve definitely struggled.”
He said last year’s route, starting in northern France, was more his thing, with short sharp climbs and cooler weather.
“For us, today is going to about staying out of trouble. It won’t be a classic leadout [for Biniam Girmay].”
155km to go: I fancy we’ll see another 70-80km of general ceasefire, then the teams of the green jersey contenders will take it up before the intermediate. Then it’ll be flat out to the finish, including the category-four Côte de Béguey.
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157km to go: The Tour’s famous publicity caravan is about to roll through the intermediate sprint, at Landiras, that comes with 54.9km to race.
158km to go: Tom Pidcock is treating himself to a banana. He’s riding alongside Ben Healy … who is also eating a banana! This is remarkable stuff.
159km to go: The gap between the peloton and the two-man break is 1min 15sec. The lads in the bunch are just chilling out. Remco Evenopoel is having a chat with his compatriot Tim Wellens.
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160km to go: It’s an extremely unfortunate photo of me. Tommy Voeckler is clearly more used to posing for pics. But there it is: Bordeaux 2010.
Richard Williams wrote the Guardian report that day:
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162km to go: OK, who wants to see a pic of me and Tommy Voeckler in Bordeaux, 2010?
163km to go: “In terms of Pog,” emails Jon. “It takes me back to a time when I was at Silverstone in the era where Michael Schumacher was dominant in his Ferrari, and the commentator said that even if you aren’t a fan, embrace what you are seeing because very few people get to see sporting excellence in their lifetime. And I feel the same with Pogacar – granted there is the shadow of doping over the sport but we have to assume he is clean until otherwise proven. What I love about him, is that we all know what he is capable of and what he is going to do – and he still can’t be stopped.
“My issue with yesterday is the Tour route organisers, as if they didn’t think that the GC would effectively be over after five days with a stage like that, then they need to go back to route planning school.”
166km to go: “I can’t help wondering whether what we are seeing now and in previous years with Tadej Pogacar is similar to what cycling fans in the late 60s and into the 70s felt with Eddy Merckx? Kind of: “Will you please stop winning, it’s making following this beautiful sport much less fun.”
“Also, when Mark Cavendish achieved his record-breaking number of TdF stage victories a few years back, when Pogacar went to congratulate him afterwards, I have a vivid memory of the microphone picking up Cav pleading to him: “Please don’t break it” … or words to that effect. As I believe Pogacar now has 23, I still think Cav’s record is in danger.”
167km to go: “I like to watch a race not a procession,” emails Christopher. “Save a disaster for Pogacar the race is over. Even then it would be a Vingegaard procession - just not as big a one (see the Giro, where the outcome was never in doubt). The Tour is at its best in the mountains with closely-fought stages. Unfortunately with Pogacar’s dominance, the race has lost a bit of its interest for me.”
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168km to go: The average speed, it says here, is 43km/h. That’s not comically slow for us normal human beings.
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171km to go: The two-man breakaway are travelling almost comically slowly. The bunch wants an easy day, at least to start with, and it looks like they are going to get it. Veistroffer peers over at the camera and smiles. I think the peloton is basically stationary at this point. Tom Pidcock waves at the camera and smiles.
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172km to go: Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto–Intermarché) is off up the road again. Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural) is with him. They have 30sec already, having been allowed to ease away from the peloton.
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Racing on stage seven
A serene start …
There are six stages categorised as “flat” on the official route guide. Stage 21 in Paris may not quite count for the pure sprinters because of the three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartre towards the end … long story short, the sprinters’ teams cannot afford to mess this up today. If a breakaway was allowed to succeed, the atmosphere would be frosty at dinner tonight for those teams.
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Here we go then. The riders are out on the road and have another 3.5km or so until the flag drops. We should see a very decent scrap to form the breakaway.
TNT Sports are broadcasting live from the Rapha cafe in central London today. The presenter, Orla Chennaoui, asked the assembled fans if they are enjoying Pogacar’s dominance: the response was mixed. What do you reckon? Mail me.
Have a read of Jeremy Whittle’s stage six report, after one of the most dominant performances we’ve ever seen from Tadej Pogacar:
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Stage seven, Friday 10 July: Hagetmau to Bordeaux, 175.1km
In the past, Bordeaux was a hugely prestigious stage for the sprinters, on a par with the Champs Élysées; the roll of honour includes Mark Cavendish, Freddy Maertens, Erik Zabel, Rik van Looy and André Darrigade. That history of 82 stage finishes has acquired more meaning since the Paris finale has been jazzed up with the addition of the Montmartre climb: with the Champs no longer a guaranteed bunch gallop, the finish on the banks of the Garonne will be the most prized sprint this year. Philipsen won here in 2023, pipping Cavendish, and he will be odds-on to do it again.
Points classification: top 10 before stage seven
1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek): 168 points
2. Max Kanter (XDS Astana): 93
3. Biniam Girmay (NSN): 91
4. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech): 86
5. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 75
6. Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM Team): 70
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike): 61
8. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step): 55
9. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): 54
10. Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek): 53
Updated
General classification: top 10 before stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), at 2 mins 42secs
3. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), at 3 mins 27secs
4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 3mins 30secs
5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) at 3mins 34secs
6. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) at 3mins 55secs
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 4mins 00secs
8. Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) at 4mins 21secs
9. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) at 4mins 57ses
10. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) at 7mins 10secs
Updated
The temperature in Bordeaux is forecast to peak at 36C today, although it’ll be hotter than that out on the road.
The neutralised start is scheduled for half an hour’s time: 12.15 BST/13.15 CET.
So, what is the vibe for stage seven, from Hagetmau to Bordeaux? It’s 175.1km trip through some famous wine country, with one categorised climb, the Côte de Béguey, a category-four, cresting after 137.3km. (A massive 84m of climbing there and 850m in total - quite a difference to yesterday’s punishing Pyrenean parcours.)
The intermediate sprint comes a while before that, after 120.2km, at Landiras – which begs the question of how much effort a team like Lidl-Trek will put in trying to control things beforehand so their man Pedersen can go for the 25 points on offer.
And that is basically that. As per usual for a finish in a city, the final looks quite technical, with a few roundabouts to negotiate before a big left-hander to cross a bridge over La Garonne, before a final blast along the river to the finish.
Updated
Preamble
You could say this Tour de France was about two questions for most of the peloton: How do we deal with the extreme heat, and how does anyone beat Tadej Pogacar?
The second question was emphatically answered on the Tourmalet yesterday, at least in the sense that no one is capable of remotely threatening the dominant Slovenian in the GC. His astonishingly powerful attack left Jonas Vingegaard, and everyone else, fighting for second place.
If the relentless, seemingly ever-improving Pogacar stays upright and free of injury and illness, a fifth Tour title is nailed on. Vingegaard and co are again left to wonder how he does it, in this modern era of hyper-marginal gains.
That leaves us with other points of interest, perhaps most notably the battle for the green jersey. Today’s flat stage to Bordeaux is a second chance for the pure sprinters: Debutant Olaj Kooij capitalised on a reduced bunch gallop to score a first Tour stage win on stage five, while a resurgent Mads Pedersen sped to victory from the break on stage four in 40C heat.
The sprinters’ teams will be determined to control and set it up for the likes of Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier, while Pedersen will doubtless be aiming to further his tilt at the green jersey.
Neutralised start: 1.15pm CET/12.15pm BST
