Sprinters eye rare shot as Tour leaves mountains behind

After a savage stretch in the Pyrenees, the Tour heads east toward the Alps with a bit of breathing room—sort of. Stage 15 won’t feature summit finishes or altitude-shredding climbs, but it’s still no picnic. Call it a transition day with bite: a route that opens the door to a bunch sprint but makes no promises.

Stage 14 was anything but gentle. Thymen Arensman took the dub in miserable conditions. The Dutchman attacked solo in the fog and rain and never looked back. Not even when Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar surged behind him. It was also the first Tour de France stage win for the Ineos – Grenadiers rider.

Pogačar remains the dominant force in yellow, adding to his grip with crushing rides up Hautacam and in the Stage 13 time trial. He did lose the polka dot jersey to Lenny Martinez (Bahrain – Victorious), but it’s still within reach. And he’s only 28 points behind Jonathan Milan in the green jersey standings thanks to rule tweaks that favour climbers at summit finishes. Yellow, green and polka dots? Don’t rule it out.

Anyway—today’s 169-km ride from Muret to Carcassonne has plenty of bumps: the Côte de Saint-Ferréol (1.7 km at 7 per cent), the longer Côte de Sorèze (6.2 km at 5.5 per cent), and the nasty Pas de Sant (2.9 km at 10.2 per cent). And right after that, a drag up to the Col de Fontbruno that tops out around 880 m. From there it’s a lumpy, fragmented run to the line.

Sprinters like Philipsen or De Lie will want it to come back together late. But riders like van Aert or van der Poel may try to ruin that plan. As for Pogi? He’ll probably just chill in the bunch. Probably.

You can catch all the action on Flobikes.com. And be sure to check back on Canadian Cycling Magazine for reports and photos after. Can you believe the Tour de France is entering its last week? Time flies when you’re watching pro riders having no fun.

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