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Thrusday 10: 12:35โ12:45 โ 17:15โ17:40
It looks like another stage for punchers, but will they be stars of the punch again, or could some breakaway men with some punch (like Healy in his in-shape version) compete? Or might a few sprinters (like Groves) make it through the last climbs?
Vauquelin (๐ซ๐ท Arkรฉa) was forbidden to break away by UAE who chased him every time he attempted something. Pogatchar๐ธ๐ฎ himself jumped in his wheel one or two times. Very weird.
As far as sprinters go, I had missed the climb to the finish line ๐ ๐
At least I got Healy (๐ฎ๐ช EF) right ๐ And damn he was in shape! The first breakaway, then a few tries, then the final breakaway which had to fight for 40 or 50 km just 5 to 20 seconds before the peloton, then the final solo where he kept on increasing the gap with his former colleagues who were not random riders.
Van der Poel (๐ณ๐ฑ Alpecin) helpless in the last 20 km or so, struggling to finish last man of the breakaway. Probably the heat, because he hadn't made the early efforts Healy and Q. Simmons (๐บ๐ธ Lidl-Trek) made. Q. Simmons was in a great shape too, I would have thought that Storer (๐ฆ๐บ Tudor) would have won their duel for second place.
Pogatchar: what did he do in the end? Did he want to keep the jersey or not? Weird again.
Martin (๐ซ๐ท FDJ) loses 20 seconds in the final climb, Skjelmose (๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek) 40.
Always a delight to see Healy at his peak
Healy indeed made the first attempt with Q. Simmons right after the intermediate sprint. Before that, nobody tried as the sprinters teams made it clear they would pull and if necessary chase. They stayed ahead (joined by an Astana and Campenaerts) a dozen km before getting caught near the top of the first 3^rd^ category climb. Then many attempts were made. What seemed to be the true breakaway started just after the second 3^rd^ cat. climn, a group of 5 with Van der Poel and again Q. Simmons and Healy. However counter-attacks never stopped and the groups was a few seconds from being caught up a couple of times, which allowed a few extra riders to jump and join the breakaway. It is only after 100 km into the stage that the peloton gave up!
This was a typical case of all teams willing to go into a breakaway on the same day and not on other days...