The second of two long days in succession, today’s 213.5km stage headed east into the Lorraine region. In addition to this being a long day in the saddle, the second half of the stage saw more undulating terrain, including two categorised climbs – both fourth category. Nestled between these climbs, 147km into the day, was the all-important intermediate sprint which, with Peter Sagan in the familiar green colour of the Maillot Vert of points leader, would play an important role in the BORA-hansgrohe team’s tactics. With the final climb summitting 15km from the finish and a flat finale, it was all but certain that a sprint finish was going to close the day. While the fast men wanted to take the stage, a group of three – the day’s break – set out to spoil their fun. This trio built up an advantage of three minutes in just 10km of racing, and with such an early surge, the peloton upped its pace and barely let it extend any further. The break knew how easily the peloton could reel them back, but kept trying. With the racing full-on right from the start, there was nervousness in the bunch and Patrick Konrad was brought down in a crash with 117km to go. Re-mounting his bike, the Austrian National Champion was unscathed, if shaken by the incident. The pace went up for the intermediate sprint, in which Peter Sagan added to his points total and this brought the break ever closer – with less than 40km to go the advantage was cut to just forty seconds. The finish town of Nancy getting closer, the crowds filled the roads, encouraging the peloton and giving them a boost of energy, and with Lukas Pöstlberger taking to the front in the last 20km riders to drive the pace, it was only a matter of time and the catch was made with 16km remaining. Street furniture and some tight turns would make for a chaotic finale. Daniel Oss stuck close to Peter Sagan in the last kilometres, keeping him safe as riders fought for position. Some narrow roads pinched the bunch as the sprinters pushed their way to the front. Into the final few hundred metres, his rivals kicked, Peter surfed the wheels to find space and pushed on hard, picking off positions as he accelerated, but he just ran out of road, having to settle for fourth on the line, but this finish enabled him to keep hold of the Maillot Vert for another day.
Results
01 E. Viviani 5:09:20
02 A. Kristoff +0:00
03 C. Ewan +0:00
04 P. Sagan +0:00
From the Finish Line
“A rider suddenly crashed in front of me and I was able to brake on time but I was then hit from behind. I am now feeling the impact on my ribs but it seems it should be fine. The team doctor will, obviously, check me but I don’t have any visible abrasion and, hopefully, this will just be a scare more than anything else.” – Patrick Konrad
“As expected, this stage was decided in a very fast sprint finish. Although a lot of strong sprinters were fighting for this win, it was a clean sprint. It was a close finish and I took fourth, which allows me to keep the green jersey but I said before, we will have to fight every day all the way to Paris.” – Peter Sagan
“The team did a good job today and in the last kilometres we tried to make the race hard but the course wasn’t difficult enough to make a difference. The finale was very fast, Peter was in a good position and came close to the win. We are still in green, so all is good on that end. Unfortunately, Patrick was involved in a crash about halfway the stage but he doesn’t seem to be suffering from anything serious. Our doctor will check him but I think he looks good and that is important for us.” – Enrico Poitschke, Sports Director
