Must... resist... name jokes... But seriously, it's a good match, I guess.

The last one-day WT race of the season will take place tomorrow, Saturday, and visit the lake Como.

The course varied across the years (the departure and arrival cities are inverted every year), but it is generally for climbers only.

There are no less than 8 principal climbs, for a total of over 4500 m of D+. There is a sort of circuit in the end, as the climb to San Fermo della Battaglia is ascended twice.

PCS startlist

Bora brings a big team around Evenepoel🇧🇪 and Roglitch🇸🇮, even though Lipowitz, who hasn't really recovered as his crash in July, was pulled out.

Bahrain brings many names which should be good, but whose form is doubtful. Tudor also brings everyone they have: Rondel🇫🇷, Storer🇦🇺, Jasch🇩🇪.

Lidl displays a rather impressive list: Ciccone🇮🇹, Ayuso🇪🇸, Q. Simmons🇺🇸. Visma also brings Piganzoli🇮🇹, Jorgenson:🇺🇸, Tulett🇬🇧.

Del Toro🇲🇽, Seixas🇫🇷 (we shall see how the new HinaultBettiol digests the 240 km this year), Pidcock🇬🇧, Healy🇮🇪, R. Debruyne🇧🇪, Mas🇪🇸, Berthet🇫🇷 complete or head the list of favourites.

As usual, one may wonder if several of the riders I listed and many I didn't wouldn't be more suited to Paris–Tours on the next day 😞

---

General map and profile:

---

Climbs (the second one is missing):

---

Finish:

The course of this Pro race is the same as last year, except for a a small diversion long before TV time, and a short new track near Chançay.

It doesn't start from Paris but Chartres, and finishes on the north side of the Loire valley, with a mix of short climbs and short track sections, before last flat 9 km.

Usually (since the new formula in 2018) it is a battle between flandriens and sprinters (a mass sprint is uncommon), and De Lie🇧🇪 gets 2 punctures.

Weather forecast (as of Wednesday): some rain today and on Friday, dry Saturday and perhaps a little bit of rain Sunday morning.

We haven't recovered yet from the World Championship the European Championship already starts on Friday in Slovenia.

The same 22-km circuit, which comprises a steep 2-km climb, is used for everything: all mass start events, as well as all Time Trials.

There's no warm up, the mass start races precede the TTs, and the program is condensed:

• Friday 2:
  • 9:00, women U23
  • 13:30, men U23
• Saturday 3:
  • 9:00, men junior
  • 13:30, women
• Sunday 4:
  • 9:00, women junior
  • 12:30, men
• Tuesday 6:
  • 11:00, mixed relay junior
  • 15:30, mixed relay
• Wednesday 7:
  • 9:15, ITT women junior
  • 10:10, ITT men junior
  • 11:30, ITT women U23
  • 12:20, ITT men U23
  • 14:30, ITT women
  • 16:15, ITT men

All TTs are a single 22-km lap.

Here is the circuit:

Junior men and women, U23 women mass start races only take place on the circuit. In other 3 races, there is a pretty flat section coming from the small capital Ljubljana which varies a bit but generally looks like this:

The number of circuit laps varies (in a non-intuitive way, because of the presence/absence of the flat section before) : 2 for elite women, 3 for U23 men and junior women, 4 for U23 women, 5 for junior men and elite men.

Marlen Reuser and Remco Evenepoel are main candidates for ITT (Elite) but with Tadej out there's now an oportunity to some other riders. Not many, because 270 km with that EG it's a hard WC.

Let's enjoy all week long!

(edit: IDK how to set post's language to english, please excuse me)

The official website freezes by web browser after a short while...

5 days of racing, including one Time Trial, for this class Pro stage race.

---

Winners of previous editions were Hirschi🇨🇭, Tiberi🇮🇹 and McNulty🇺🇸. None of them is coming.

Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin) is coming back to the road. Will he be active or just training for the World Championship?

---

Here is the general map. As you can see, Luxembourg is small, and each stage is already almost a Tour of Luxembourg 🙂

---

Stage 1: Wednesday 16

158 km, D+ 2400 m

It can't be seen on the stage profile, but the last 250 m are uphill. There is also a sort of hairpin to cross the river a bit after the flamme rouge.

---

Stage 2: Thursday 17

167 km, D+ 2000 m

The last 30 km are on a circuit (2.5 laps).

---

Stage 3: Friday 18

179 km, D+ 3000 m

The last 30 km are again on a circuit (2 laps), a very hilly one.

---

Stage 4: Saturday 19

20 km, D+ 350 m, ITT

There is a 1 mile climb after 4 km, half of which is around 10% steep. Then very light hills, and then a mini wall followed by an uphill false flat after 14 km. On reaches the line after a 2 km long descent.

---

Stage 5: Sunday 20

177 km, D+ 2900 m

Guess what? The last 30 km are on a circuit (a bit more than 2 laps), very hilly again.

Those 2 circuit races, and of course especially the Montréal one, will be a live rehearsal for the World Championship that will take place in Montréal 2 weeks later.

Tour de France riders are back on the road: Del Toro🇲🇽, Seixas🇫🇷 and Evenepoel🇧🇪. The Mexican won the Tour of Germany as an appetiser.

---

Québec tomorrow Friday:

Matthews🇦🇺 won it in 2024 (and many other times), but last year it was a surprise victory by Alaphilippe🇫🇷. The Frenchman retired a couple of few weeks ago (another surprise) but the 35 yo Australian will be present again.

---

Montréal on Sunday:

Pogatchar🇸🇮 won it solo in 2024, and on a tandem with McNulty last year.

This week will be easier than the previous ones. Difficulties will be concentrated on Friday and especially Saturday. There isn't a single Mountain point offered before then.

Rankings after stage 15

General time classification

In top-5, riders just switched 1 place; behind, 3 riders appeared in top-10 thanks to breakaways, as the ones holding those ranks didn't care about protecting them, and Mühlberger crashed.

1. Enric Mas 🇪🇸 Movistar
2. ⬆ Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon @ 2′06″
3. ⬇ Primoj Roglitch 🇸🇮 Bora @ 2′10″
4. ⬆ Richard Carapaz 🇪🇨 EF @ 4′24″
5. ⬇ Oscar Onley 🇬🇧 Ineos @ 5′44″
6. 🆕 Jakob Omrzel 🇸🇮 Bahrain @ 6′14″
7. ⬇ Matias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek @ 6′49″
8. 🆕 Cristian Rodriguez 🇪🇸 Astana @ 7′01″
9. 🆕 Clément Berthet Bahrain @ 6′14″
10. ⬇⬇⬇ Sepp Kuss 🇺🇸 Visma @ 4′09″

Points

Pedersen and Laporte withdrew. Romele and Coquard are trying a bit. The whole peloton is riding for Van Aert, therefore:

1. Wout Van Aert 🇧🇪 Visma: 267 pts +143
2. Matthew Brennan 🇬🇧 Visma: 159 +92
3. Alessandro Romele 🇮🇹 Astana: 153 +94
4. ⬆⬆⬆⬆ Bryan Coquard 🇫🇷 Cofidis: 94 +52
5. 🆕 Andreas Leknessund 🇳🇴 Uno-X: 79 + 49
6. 🆕 Ramses Debruyne 🇧🇪 Alpecin: 78 + 39
7. ⬇⬇Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 Soudal-QS: 77 +20

Mountain

Buitrago is the only one going for it (except the big green thing). Nobody even entered top-5...

1. Santiago Buitrago 🇨🇴 Bahrain: 69 pts +40
2. ⬆⬆ Wout Van Aert 🇧🇪 Visma: 40 +24
3. ⬇ Enric Mas 🇪🇸 Movistar: 24 =
4. Andreas Leknessund 🇳🇴 Uno-X: 23 +4
5. Lorenzo Fortunato 🇮🇹 Astana: 21 +8

---

Stages

Stage 16, Tuesday 8

181 km, D+ 1900m

A sprinters stage. A km-0 breakaway of small teams riders will pretend to have a chance during the first hilly part.

---

Stage 17, Wednesday 9

185 km, D+ 900m

Another sprinters stage. No one should even try anything. Or could those stages be windy?

---

Stage 18, Thursday 10

32 km, D+ 150m, Time Trial

The only top-10 rider who may be at ease on this hopelessly flat TT is Roglitch. Others will be judged on their ability to limit damage.

---

Stage 19, Friday 11

210 km, D+ 4000m

This long stage present a set of medium climbs in its middle, followed by a big nothing (40 km of descent and flat), and then a very long final climb.

---

Stage 20, Saturday 12

187 km, D+ 4800m

For the first time in this Tour (except the Andorran stage in a way, but this one is much longer), there will be a succession of hard climbs, with a final on top that isn't any easier than the 3 previous climbs.

---

Stage 21, Sunday 13

187 km, D+ 4800m

The Vuelta ends in Granada this year, and after a flat first half, enters a circuit with a single but significant hump rider will have to climb 4 times. A little bit like the Montréal circuit, but flatter between the (harder) climbs. Th finish line is 8 km from the top.

A new Vuelta started this week-end with the withdrawal of its leader Pogatchar. A very hilly week awaits the riders.

---

Standings after 9 stages

General time classification

There is a gap after rider #8.

1. Enric Mas 🇪🇸 Movistar
2. Primoj Roglitch 🇸🇮 Bora @ 1′18″
3. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon @ 1′39″
4. Oscar Onley 🇬🇧 Ineos @ 2′20″
5. Richard Carapaz 🇪🇨 EF @ 3′26″
6. Matias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek @ 3′55″
7. Sepp Kuss 🇺🇸 Visma @ 4′09″
8. Harold Tejada 🇨🇴 Astana @ 4′39″
9. Gregor Mühlberger 🇦🇹 Decathlon @ 7′33″

Points

Is Visma the only team going for it?

1. Wout Van Aert 🇧🇪 Visma: 124 pts
2. Matthew Brennan 🇬🇧 Visma: 67
3. Alessandro Romele 🇮🇹 Astana: 59
4. Mads Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: 58
5. Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 Soudal-QS: 57
6. Christophe Laporte 🇫🇷 Visma: 52

Mountain

Buitrago went for it on Sunday.

1. Santiago Buitrago 🇨🇴 Bahrain: 29 pts
2. Enric Mas 🇪🇸 Movistar: 24
3. Andreas Leknessund 🇳🇴 Uno-X: 19
4. Wout Van Aert 🇧🇪 Visma: 16
5. Lorenzo Fortunato 🇮🇹 Astana: 13

---

Stage 10, Tuesday 1

185 km, D+ 2700m

No big climbs, no steep climbs, but a number of them again. The finish may be decided by small hump 5 km from the line, and the survival over the following 4 km long uphill false-flat that brings the riders to the line. Who will win, a puncher? a false-flat sprinter? a breakaway?

---

Stage 11, Wednesday 2

151 km, D+ 1400m

Contrarily to the previous day, today the elevation is concentrated in one main climb. Its slope isn't steep and there are still 30 km to go after its summit. We can note that the first 15 km are designed to create a breakaway. But the whole profile shouldn't be very hard to control.

---

Stage 12, Thursday 3

167 km, D+ 4500m

Parts of this stage look similar to the one won by Leknessund on the 1^st^ week. However there are a few more serious slopes here, in the beginning of the Velefique Pass and then in the beginning of the Calar observatory's climb . Between 2 easier stages, the GC leaders will certainly battle again here. Will it be for stage victory too, or simply far behind a breakaway?

---

Stage 13, Friday 4

193 km, D+ 3300m

Once again, a stage with a climb at a distance from the line, 40 km here, before a flat finish. The originality is that first half of the stage is however pretty hard. If it were still to finish in some sort of a sprint, the last half-mile is uphill.

---

Stage 14, Saturday 5

155 km, D+ 4100m

Back to a (short) mountain stage with a finish on top. There is no other difficult climb before that, but there is no flat at all, just uphill and downhill false-flats everywhere, with a couple of medium smooth climbs and a few little walls here and there.

---

Stage 15, Sunday 6

190 km, D+ 3300m

To finish the week, we alternate again with another hilly stage. A bit of flat at the start, a bit of flat at the end in Cordoba, and 150 of hills in between.

We start heading South. Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) has already crushed the race: with 2 victories in -4- 3 stages, he leads the 3 classifications...

---

Rankings after stage #4.

General time classification

1. Tadey Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE
2. Primoj Roglitch 🇸🇮 Bora @ 3′21″
3. Enric Mas 🇪🇸 Movistar @ 3′32″
4. Sepp Kuss 🇺🇸 Visma @ 3′44″
5. Oscar Onley 🇬🇧 Ineos @ 3′45″
6. Richard Carapaz 🇪🇨 EF @ 3′50″
7. Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon @ 3′57″
8. Matias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek @ 4′06″
9. Jarno Widar 🇧🇪 Lotto-Int. @ 4′06″
10. Jay Vine 🇦🇺 UAE @ 4′11″

Points

1. Tadey Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE: 82 pts
2. Ethan Hayter 🇬🇧 Soudal-QS: 37
3. Matthew Brennan 🇬🇧 Visma: 30

Mountain

1. Tadey Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE: 23 pts
2. Lorenzo Fortunato 🇮🇹 Astana: 10
3. 4 riders with 6 pts

---

Stages

Stage 5, Wednesday 26

173 km, D+ 1700m*

Whith the hills that start 60 km from the line and end 20-30 from it, this should be a game of sprinters vs punchers. Therefore we should see punchers-sprinters having their day.

NB: the profile exaggerates the steepness of the slopes.

---

Stage 6, Thursday 27

177 km, D+ 3000m*

Another mountain stage, another Pogatchar day. To make sure of it and remind him of his 3 Stade Bianche victories in a row, there will be 2 km on a gravel road at 12% near the summit of the last climb. Shall the first group to ride down towards the finish line be a one-man group or shall he get a few companions?

---

Stage 7, Friday 28

150 km, D+ 3600m*

I am not sure how to name this stage. There is quite some elevation, but the vast majority of slopes are smooth. Probably a day for breakaways, coming after an UAE stage.

---

Stage 8, Saturday 29

172 km, D+ 1300m*

I assume this stage is designed to create a fight between punchers and sprinters. However it didn't work on Wednesday, as everyone wanted a sprint; and this time the slope may be insufficient to get rid of all sprinters.

---

Stage 9, Sunday 30

188 km, D+ 5000m*

A mountain stage fo finish the week. All sorts of climbs, steep or smooth, short or medium-length, precede a 22 km long final climb. This stage will be very hard, there is no flat section and it is rather long.

The Tour of Spain (Vuelta a España) starts tomorrow Saturday. In Monaco...

As we can see on the general map, despite starting in France and its dependent principalities, most of the tour will happen in the South of Spain, which is rather unusual (I believe?). In fact, there is not a single mile of stage in the Spanish Pyrenees, their foothils, or the Cantabrian Range!

---

Riders

The coming of Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) leaves little hope about the final victory to other riders (and spectators), unless something bad happens to him. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon) will try to get his second 2^nd^ place in GC this year after the Tour of Italy. Will Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) and Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) aim for the podium, after taking part in the Tour of France?

Therefore, most teams will aim for stage victories, and bring the personnel accordingly. Van Aert🇧🇪, Laporte🇫🇷, Brennan🇬🇧 and Kuss🇺🇸 for Visma! M. Pedersen🇩🇰 for Lidl-Trek. Bora brings Roglitch🇸🇮 for his vacation package.

---

The first 4 stages

Stage 1, Saturday 22: 🇲🇨Monaco🇲🇨

9,4 km, ITT

The distance is barely over the limit for a prologue, and they managed to avoid any sort of climb.

---

Stage 2, Sunday 23: 🇲🇨Monaco–Manosque🇫🇷

214 km, D+ 3000m

The first of the two French stages proposes a very hilly course, over a distance longer than any of the Tour de France stages this year. The finish may be (I don't know) the same we often see on the Tour de la Provence in the beginning of the season, where it is usually won by sprinters who can handle punchy courses or strong uphill false-flat finishes.

---

Stage 3, Monday 24: 🇫🇷 Gruissan–Font Romeu🇫🇷

175 km, D+ 2600m

After a very long transfer along the French Mediterranean coast, this stage arrives already in the Pyrenees. Amusingly, the destination is basically the same as where the Tour de France entered France from Spain in July. Most of the approach is made of unbearable dozens of kilometres of a slightly then strongly uphill false-flat highway road. The final climb is pretty much the same.

---

Stage 4, Tuesday 25: 🇦🇩Andorra la Vieja–Andorra la Vieja🇦🇩

105 km, D+ 3000m

Familiar climbs with a finish at the bottom. The first half of the course consists of climbing the Envalira pass and coming back, which involves a lot of false-flat both ways. Riders better be ready for a direct, fast start over the uphill false-flat.

Not a huge surprise , is it ?

I wonder if this means anything long term for guys like Almeida. I’m also curious if he signed this expecting Pogi to step aside in the next couple of years?

Demi Vollering claimed her historic second career Tour de France Femmes title with a solo victory on Sunday's final stage.

This ProSeries race takes place on the scorched by the sun plateaus around the city of Burgos in Castile.

This year, it doesn't look like there will much space for sprinters on this punchy race, the GC of which goes to a climber. The first stage is the traditional hectic finish in Burgos (sprinters-punchers have a chance there together with punchers-climbers), and the last one the traditional mountain finish at the lakes of Neila.

The official website is very thorough, and the technical guide even more: for example, for stage #1, it contains over 100 photos of the various curves, crossings and even of the manholes covers and cracks in the road!! 👍 👍

---

Riders

This is Gaudu's comeback to actual (?) competition. Since May, he's only started the National Championship in June, and the San Sebastian classic on Saturday, for 2 DNF... Let's see if he can put out this week something that justifies a bit of his salary...

There are quite a number of rather high profile contenders! F. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon), J. Vine (🇦🇺 UAE) if he can survive the usually stressing finishes of the first days without crashing, G. Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek), Pellizzari (🇮🇹 Bora), M. Rondel (🇫🇷 Tudor).

As outsiders, P. Sivakov (🇷🇺🇫🇷 UAE) already won the race, A. Eulalio (🇵🇹 Bahrain) will try to find his crazy Giro legs, J. Nordhagen🇳🇴 and B. Tulett🇬🇧 will defend Visma's chances, L. Bisiaux (🇫🇷 France) will supplement Gall, and M. Beloki (🇪🇸 EF) has just won the (much, much weaker) Tour de l'Ain.

---

Stages

Stage 1

165 km, D+ 1500m

The traditional punchy finish on the castle hill in Burgos, after the flattest stage.

Press to see the map

---

Stage 2

177 km, D+ 2300 m

A finish for long punchers on this murito.

Press to see the map

(yeah, I know, the less important climb got a larger picture 🙂)

---

Stage 3

183 km, D+ 3200 m

This stage and its almost-on-top-finish will very likely start sorting GC favourites. They won't be able to hide on this difficult Puerto del Escudo (a new one on this race, but it was apparently ridden a few times on the Vuelta).

---

Stage 4

178 km, D+ 1900 m

Can sprinters make it through this one in a front group? Otherwise, it looks like a good chance for breakaways, between 2 mountain stages.

The 'climbs' are not terrible at all today:

Finnish profile:

---

Stage 5 (last)

137 km, D+ 2900 m

The usual decisive finish on top.

Press to see the map

Sorry, I haven't given any attention to this race and prepared anything so far, so I'll just say that this year, it is more of a Tour of Rhône or 'around the Alps', only reaches France along the 3^rd^ stage; and point you to the PCS pages (the official site being linked already):

PCS general page and its 'top competitors'

PCS profiles

PCS startlist

I may add stuff later, but that's not sure.

The third and last week stays in the Alps – that we already reached on Sunday, except for the last day which suddenly 'jumps' to Paris.

---

Standings after week 2

General Classification:

Unless he undergoes an accident, the race is already won for the Slovenian rider. The battle for podium is however still open, after the unfortunate withdrawal of Vingegaard🇩🇰. The top-10 didn't change much, but it 'stretched', and Pidcock and Jegat entered it.

1. Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE
2. Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Bora: +5′00″
3. Isaac Del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE +5′58″
4. Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: +6′23″
5. Florian Lipowitz 🇩🇪 Bora: +6′48″
6. Juan Ayuso 🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek: +7′28″
7. Mattias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: +9′38″
8. Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain: +10′28″
9. Thomas Pidcock 🇬🇧 Q36.5: +11′19″
10. Jordan Jegat 🇫🇷 Total : +19′12″

5 other riders follow close to Jegat, at less than 25 minutes, and can thus hope to enter top-10: Voisard🇨🇭, Carapaz🇪🇨, Van Wilder🇧🇪, A. Yates🇬🇧, and Piganzoli🇮🇹 (Visma) who will have to make up for Vingegaard's withdrawal. The rest is farther than 40 minutes.

Points classification (Green jersey):

Merlier🇧🇪, who was in 4^th^ position, couldn't finish the race in time on Sunday and withdrew. Philipsen did the best 2^nd^ week.

1. Mads Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: 417 pts (+149)
2. jasper Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin: 191 (+195)
3. Biniam Girmay 🇪🇷 NSN: 361 (+138)
4. Max Kanter 🇩🇪 Astana: 271 (+99)
5. Olav Kooij 🇳🇱 Decathlon 210 (+100)

Mountain (Polka Dots jersey)

Those who try to fight for points cannot seem to be able to beat Pogatchar who doesn't, and other GC guys aren't far either. Martinez didn't go for points this week, and Baudin disappeared.

1. Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE: 67 pts (+39)
2. Valentin Paret-Peintre 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS: 45 (+33)
3. Richard Carapaz 🇪🇨 EF: 39 (+38)
4. Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: 34 (+22)
5. Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Bora: 31 (+26)
6. Isaac Del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE: 30 (+20)

---

Stages

Stage 16, Tuesday 21

26 km, D+ 500 m, Individual Time Trial

This ITT presents an unusual profile, with an horrible 4,5% strongly uphill false-flat right from the start which lasts for 10 km (!), then a steeper descent and only finally a flat section.

Press to see the map

---

Stage 17, Wednesday 22

175 km D+ 2400 m

This stage will probably be disputed between a breakaway which could leave in the small/medium climbs of the first 60 km, and sprinter teams. Perhaps Pedersen will attempt to go into the breakaway.

Press to see the map and the finish profile

---

Stage 18, Thursday 23

186 km, D+ 3900 m

Many climbs, long and short, but never too steep. There is a finish on top, but it might still be good for breakaways if GC guys wait for the 2 harder stages which follow.

NB: the way the profile is drawn makes it look almost flat, but there is almost 4000 m of total elevation to climb, it is really a medium mountain stage.

Press to see the map

---

Stage 19, Friday 24

128 km, D+ 3600 m

The first Alpe d'Huez stage presents climbs in the beginning and in the end, with smaller and smoother hills in the centre part. It is short. A breakaway might succeed if Pogatchar doesn't want the stage (who else would ride for it after the withdrawals of Vingegaard and Lipowitz?).

Press to see the map and the profiles of Noyer Pass and Alpe d'Huez.

---

Stage 20, Saturday 25

171 km, D+ 5600 m

Another finish at the Alpe d'Huez after 3 Hors-Catégorie climbs for the main and last mountain stage. As the stage also starts from the bottom of the Alpe d'Huez, I fear about the crowd being too important, as it will also be compacted on this reduced version of the climb, and those risks come on top of the race staying 2 days in the same place and this stage being on a week-end.

---

Stage 21 (final), Sunday 26

133 km, D+ 1600 m

Last year's experiment is renewed: 4 laps of Champs-Élysées only (7 km) and then 3 longer (16 km) laps including the climb to Montmartre and its somewhat scary downhill. The finish is located a bit farther from the last top: 11 km instead of 6, which may cause more regrouping and favour punchers a little bit less.

Special regulations: if the streets are deemed slippery, times shall be taken on the 1^st^ crossing of the finish line, or any later crossing of the line. Riders must complete the full distance in any case. Only one car per team is allowed on the circuits.

The race restarts on the National Day, and it will be as hot as the first week which cooked many riders who will spend Monday in an ice pool. The temperature will not decrease until Thursday perhaps, or Friday more surely, when it will not even be cool but just 'more normally' hot.

Weeks are shorter now, 6 days only. This one starts with a medium mountain stage, then presents 2 easy days, before getting harder over 3 mountain days, with a finish on top on the two week-end stages.

---

Standings after week 1

General Classification:

While the Slovenian detached a bit already, there are still many contenders (8) for the podium, and they all are expected favourites.

1. Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE
2. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: +2′42″
3. Isaac Del Toro 🇲🇽 UAE +3′27″
4. Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Bora: +3′30″
5. Juan Ayuso 🇪🇸 Lidl-Trek: +3′34″
6. Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: +3′55″
7. Florian Lipowitz 🇩🇪 Bora: +4′00″
8. Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain: +4′21″
9. Mattias Skjelmose 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: +4′57″
10. Egan Bernal 🇨🇴 ineos : +9′12″

Points classification (Green jersey):

1. Mads Pedersen 🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek: 268 pts
2. Biniam Girmay 🇪🇷 NSN: 223
3. Tim Merlier 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS: 213
4. jasper Philipsen 🇧🇪 Alpecin: 191
5. Max Kanter 🇩🇪 Astana: 172
6. Olav Kooij 🇳🇱 Decathlon 110

Mountain (Polka Dots jersey)

Few points were scored so far.

1. Tadej Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE: 28 pts
2. Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 19
3. Lenny Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrain: 16
4. Alex Baudin 🇫🇷 EF: 13
5. Valentin Paret-Peintre 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS & Paul Seixas 🇫🇷 Decathlon: 12

---

Stages

Stage 10, Tuesday 14

167 km, D+ 3800 m

The stage in the Massif Central looks a bit like the previous (Ussel) stage, but the climbs are significantly more substantial and there is even less flat for recovery, so a breakaway of climbers more than punchers can be expected (if UAE doesn't decide to win it from the peloton).

Press to the finish profile

---

Stage 11, Wednesday 15

161 km, D+ 1100 m

This is a sprinters stage.

Press to see profile and map

---

Stage 12, Thursday 16

179 km, D+ 1400 m

This one is a bit more hilly than the previous one, but those hills look far from enough to prevent another sprinters stage.

Press to see profile and map

---

Stage 13, Friday 17

206 km, D+ 2300 m

After 2 days of sprint, we are progressively getting back in business with this pilgrimage into the land of Pinot. Because the following two days will be finish-on-top stages, this one is likely to be granted to a breakaway. As always these days, it means that a ton of riders will try to join it. The two (not very difficult) climbs only start after 150 km of slightly hilly terrain, and this is the longest stage in this Tour.

Press to see the map and the profile of the main climb (Ballon d'Alsace)

---

Stage 14, Saturday 18

155 km, D+ 3900 m

This Alsatian mountain stage is a loop in the Vosges. It climbs again the same side of the Ballon d'Alsace that was climbed the day before. The almost final Haag Pass is basically a different road to get to the same point as the Grand Ballon climbed early in the stage.

Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Grand Ballon & Haag)

---

Stage 15, Sunday 19

184 km, D+ 4100 m

This weeks ends up as this year's Dauphiné did (when Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) beat badly the rest of the field). The final climb is the same but the whole course which starts in the Jura mounts, before bypassing Geneva by staying on the French side, is very different, much more varied.

Press to see the map and the profile of 2 climbs (Croisette Pass & Solaison Plateau)

The great Circus of July arrive in town on Saturday, for 3 weeks.

It starts in Catalunya, Spain and reaches France by the road. Strangely, while many days are spent in the area, Pyrenees as a mountain are almost avoided.

There are only 2 rest days this year, so the first week is relatively long: 9 days.

Again, there are no long stages this year: only 1 barely goes over 200 km. And the total course is probably the second shortest in history (just a few miles longer than last year's edition...)

Another heatwave is expected over France in July, starting at the same time as the race. It may not be as bad as the heatwave of June, but it is still going to be significantly hotter than normal for days if not weeks.

PCS page

---

Regulations

You've got the usual Yellow, Green, Red Polka Dots, and White jerseys. Mountain and Points final classifications bring UCI points for the first 3 riders (only).

On top of the Agressive rider daily and final prizes, there is now a smaller weekly and final 'best teammate' prize. Both are jury-based prizes.

Each stage brings almost the same UCI points as a 1.Pro race (!)

The scale for Green jersey points has been tweaked to favour even more the pure sprinters... There seems to be only 1 Intermediate Sprint per stage.

The scale for small GPM points remains as ridiculous as before: only 1 point for 1 rider on 4^th^ category climbs, and 2 and points for the first 2 riders on 3^rd^ category climbs...

There are no other secondary or tertiary classification to animate stage or give smaller teams an achievable goal.

---

Riders

The cream of the mutant crust will be present, probably for the only time this year.

---

Stages

Stage 1, Saturday 1, Team Time Trial

20 km, D+ 220 m

A very short TTT in the streets of Barcelona, with some climbing near and at the end (your usual Montjuic). Together with the new rules, it means that it is designed to bring the leaders to the front as soon as day 1.

---

Stage 2, Sunday 5

169 km, D+ 2000 m

A stage for punchers, again finishing in Barcelona's Montjuic, pretty much like the final stage of the Tour of Catalunya even though the circuit is a little bit different

---

Stage 3, Monday 6

196 km, D+ 3900 m

Arrival in a ski resort in French Catalunya. Is this a mountain stage or a puncher stage? Or simply a very good day for breakaways?

---

Stage 4, Tuesday 7

182 km, D+ 2900 m

After a uselessly long bus transfer, this stage meanders in the Cathar Country, the Pyrenean piedmont, and may offer opportunities for breakaways, as well as sprinters if there isn't too much action.

Press to see the finish profile

---

Stage 5, Wednesday 8

158 km, D+ 1600 m

A stage which looks very much like the first 2 stages of the Route d'Occitanie a couple of weeks ago. Despite some use of the hills of Gers, they will probably insufficient or too separated to get rid of the sprinters on their favourite finish city (Pau). There is almost no reward for breakaways, with only 1 GPM... I don't suppose riding by my high-school (in a distant past) will be a motivating reward.

Press to see the map

---

Stage 6, Thursday 9

186 km, D+ 4100 m

The only mountain stage of the Pyrenees this year simply consists of the Aspin Pass, the Tourmalet Pass, and a strange never-ending (18 km) strongly uphill false flat as a finish.

Press to see the map and detailed profiles

---

Stage 7, Friday 10

175 km, D+ 700 m

A flat stage for the next favourite arrival of sprinters: Bordeaux.

Press to see the profile

---

Stage 8, Saturday 11

180 km, D+ 1300 m

The second flat stage for sprinters in a row. A grand total of 3 GPM points will have been offered in 2 days...

On top of this, this stage is utterly useless in terms of geographical progression between Bordeaux and the stage of Sunday, it even goes a bit backwards, and requires transfers before and after...

Icing on the cake, the last km looks slightly downhill, which is more dangerous.

Press to see the map and profile

---

Stage 9, Saturday 11

185 km, D+ 3300 m

After 2 flat stages, there isn't one flat yard today, approaching the Massif Central. This will certainly be one of those stages where 150 riders want to join the breakaway.

Press to see the map and the finish profile

It is becoming more and more difficult to organise races in Switzerland: acceptation by populations/authorities, exploding costs, introduction of women races... In Romandie, they cancelled the women race; here, it is the men race which suffers: from 8 days last years (and even 9 a few years ago) it is now reduced to 5 days (only 4 in Switzerland as the 1^st^ one take place entirely in Italy), the total distance is divided by 2, and all stages are circuits, or more exactly loops, only the last one is an actual circuit.

The women stages are in the mornings, the men races in the afternoon.

PCS page

---

Riders (men)

Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) continues his mission, coming on races he hasn't already won to fix this mistake. There won't be much competition for General Classification, as Pidcock cancelled his participation: L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco), Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora), and perhaps Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) or Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) if they finally feel better. We may get interested in what the 3^rd^ Bahrain rider, Eulalio🇵🇹, can do here after his great Tour of Italy.

There will be a greater competition among punchers. In addition to some puncher-climbers I already quoted, we shall see Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin), Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ), Narvaez (🇪🇨 UAE) and others.

---

Stages

Not a single one reaches 160 km...

Stage 1, Wednesday 17, the Sondrio loop

A punchers' stage going back and forth in an Italian valley.

---

Stage 2, Thursday 18, the Locarno loop

A pure punchers' stage.

---

Stage 3, Friday 19, the Bad Ragaz loop

The sprinters' stage, unless a few teams want to make their life hard in the first half of the stage. After all, this stage presents basically as much elevation as the first two stages.

---

Stage 4, Saturday 20, the AArburg loop

The Individual Time Trial, very much flat, 24 km.

---

Stage 5, Sunday 21, the Villars/Ollon circuit

This final stage is a hard mountain stage. A climb of almost 20 km (!) is repeated 3 times with 0 flat in between: you go up by one road, you go down by another road which ends directly where the first one restarts, and so on. The start/finish point is not on top nor at the bottom, but at about 2/3 of the climb, which mean the departure starts with a 4 km climb at 9 %. 😱

This WT stage race goes from Sunday to Sunday, and there will be climbs everyday, even on the TTT which will therefore be exceptionally difficult.

Unfortunately, this is yet another race which was 'bought' by the local elected officials, who changed its name to promote their fiefdom, and ⅓ of the Dauphiné will never be visited any more, as it belongs to a different administration.

Riders

No Pogatchar, no Vingegaard; this leaves the door open for the next level of favourites: the UAE duo Almeida🇵🇹/Del Toro🇲🇽 and Ze Elect (🇫🇷 Decathlon). Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) and Jorgenson (🇺🇸 Visma) will be the main outsiders.

PCS page

Stages

(I apologise if the pictures look shitty, but they were already horribly compressed Jpeg on the official website...)

NB: there are no time bonuses on this race, neither at the end of stages nor within them.

Stage 1 (Sunday 7)

146 km, 3200 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 2 (Monday 8)

234 km, 3700 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 3 (Tuesday 9) Team Time Trial

27 km, 400 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 4 (Wednesday 10)

167 km, 2100 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 5 (Thursday 11)

196 km, 2200 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 6 (Friday 12)

183 km, 2900 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 7 (Saturday 13)

134 km, 3700 m D+

Press to see the map

---

Stage 8 (Sunday 14)

120 km, 4100 m D+

Press to see the map