There is no rest day to go across France from the Alps to Catalonia. This block of stages will see the first real mountain climbs, starting with with 2 half-Andorran stages. But the block actually opens on Wednesday with a flat Team Time Trial.
Standings after stage 4
General
- D. Gaudu 🇫🇷 FDJ
- J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – s.t.
- G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 8″
- E. Bernal 🇨🇴 Ineos – 14″
- T. Pidcock and 19 other riders – 16″
Points
- M. Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-trek – 78 pts
- E. Vernon 🇬🇧 IPT – 76 pts
- J. Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin – 75 pts
- G. Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 67 pts
- J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 65 pts
- D. Gaudu 🇫🇷 FDJ – 62 pts
Mountain
- J. Nicolau 🇪🇸 Caja Rural – 11 pts
- S. Quinn 🇺🇸 EF – 9 pts
- A. Verre 🇮🇹 Arkéa – 8 pts
- L. Vervaeke 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 8 pts
- J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 5 pts
Teams
- Visma 🇳🇱
- UAE, Astana and Soudal – 2″
(Except for Visma, I wouldn’t have given those team names if I had been asked; it’s a bit of a surprise.)
Stage 5: Wednesday 27, 16:37–18:05 → 17:00–18:30
A 24 km Team Time Trial.
The last TTT I remember was on Paris-Nice (slightly longer, a bit harder). Visma won, but there weren’t large differences overall.
Who are the good TT riders for this tour?
There are many good TT riders, but this is a team time trial, so it’s a different discipline. You need team cohesion and timing more than pure strength, a too strong pull by a good TT rider will pull the team apart.
Ah I missed that it was TTT - who do you think has form? Alpecin were mighty on stage 1 for the lead out but I dunno how useful Philipsen is in TTT
Odds say Visma, UAE, Ineos. But TTTs are so rare that it’s always a bit hard to predict. Lidl also have a strong TT team and usually good cohesion, though I know they haven’t looked so convincing the past couple of days.
No significant time differences on this TTT either.
Only among the outsiders, Jayco (O’Connor), Soudal (Landa, Lecerf) and Picnic (?) lost 45 seconds or a bit more. Except Astana who lost over 1mn30, I don’t know what happened to them.