The question of the day was if this would be a take it easy day - well looks like not, at least at the start. The team of Milan - Lidl-Trek - wanted to keep Milan in it but that was going to be tough as unlike other green jersey winners he has a hard time on the hills - even small ones. With one climb gone and 86K to go he was 1:23 off the front group and a minute off the main yellow jersey peloton. They did get back on but this would seem like it would be a repeated process on the last small climb but there was time to get back on if they allow them to.
With 1K to the top of the last small climb WVA worked to bridge across and no one went with him. That said at the top The leaders had 0:25 on WVA and 0:44 on the peloton with everyone still in it. Looked like Milan was doing better and with the route now mostly all downhill and flat it would seem the peloton, if they time it right should catch the front - say should as strange things happen.
Quinn was at the front of the group working to keep the pace such that no one jumps away - well but WVA - but good enough not to lose Milan - and he did a great job of that. With 40k to go it was now a timing event so that they did not catch the leaders too soon as then more would try and jump. Ideally, as they did with MVDP earlier in the tour they catch in the last 1K in the lead out. As the road got down the last climb it was clear WVA was not going to catch the front and the peloton was keeping them at about a minute with 30K to go. With rain on the roads it was to make the finish a little touchy.
After all that it ended up coming down to a sprint and well the best sprinter won, Milan, even if he can at times be painful to watch sprint. Milan did look better than he had on other days over the hills but that may have been his last chance as even the final day is unsure with a new course with a few climbs in it near the end and not simply riding up and down the Champs Elysees. The Green Jersey is still up for grabs - well to be grabbed by Tadej if he wants it. The intermediate sprints the next two days are early so Milan may get those but the way points go Tadej could get a bunch up front. Then on the Saturday there are some climbs before the intermediate sprint so Milan is not likely to get those. The killer is that the last stage course this year goes up a 1.1K - 5.9% climb 3 times and tops out the last time only 6 K from the line so will be hard for Milan and other sprinters to be the main show as is usally the case on the last day.
Race Highlights:
- Winner - Jonathan Milan
- Yellow Jersey - Tadej Pogacar
- Green Jersey - Jonathan Milan
- Polkadot Jersey - Tadej Pogacar
- While Jersey - Florian Lipowitz
GC W/Time Gaps
1) Tadej Pogacar
2) Jonas Vengegaard - +04:15
3) Florian Lipowitz - +09:03
4) Oscar Onley - +11:04
5) Primoz Roglic - +11:42
6) Kevin Vauquelin - +13:20
7) Felix Gall - +14:50
8) Tobias Johannessen - +17:01
9) Ben Healy - +17:52
10) Carlos Rodriquez - +20:45
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