This is a 5 days .Pro race, often hilly, which includes a Time Trial back to normal distance after the short one in 2024.
Maps and profiles of the first 2 stages:
There will be 8 WT, 7 PT, 4 Contis (I just remember that Rembe is the actual team who rode the Tour de l’Ain masquerading as the German selection…) and 1 selection for Luxembourg.
It could be a race for Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ), but with the TT, that’s less likely. McNulty (🇺🇸 UAE) who just co-won the GP of Montréal in Canada on Sunday may appear as the favourite; he won the (short) TT on the Tour of Poland one month earlier.
Last year, Tiberi (🇮🇹 Barhein) won thanks to a good performance in the TT and a breakaway in the last stage. His team isn’t present this year.
edit: Stages 3 to 5
The Time Trial:
Stage 3
Lots of movements, caused by the triple climb of a hill which was actually very hard, and even started by a cobblestone section. It didn’t take long to create splits. Grégoire quickly cracked on a terrain which wasn’t supposed to be so bad for him, always on the wrong side of the successive splits; icing on the cake, the two teammates who were trying to bring him back on the flat section crashed on the curve which marked the beginning of the climb… he finishes almost 3 minutes behind the winners of the day! Conversely, a strong collective performance was delivered by the Tudor riders.
It was a pretty good race. 😃
Meanwhile in Slovakia,
spoiler
Stage #1: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤
Stage #2: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤 💤
Stage #3: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤 💤 💤
And that’s worrying for the European Championship race in Ardèche which will be held in 2 weeks from now and will be somewhat similar. Especially as *Grégoire seemed to have demonstrated he was in a terrific shape just 2 days ago.
spoiler
Stage #1: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤
Stage #2: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤 💤
Stage #3: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤 💤 💤
Stage #4: 1. Magnier 2. Kubich 💤 💤 💤 💤