Slip and slide
Jonathan Milan wins a rainy sprint into Valence
It’s disconcerting having a sprint finish in the final week of the Tour that isn’t in Paris. The first week, the usual time for the sprinters to shine and make their mark on the race, feels like ancient history, a different, more simple time when lots of people could still win the Tour and Tadej Pogačar hadn’t throttled the race into submission.
But not all the terrain between the Pyrenees and the Alps has Mont Ventoux nearby, and so as the race transitions between the two great mountain ranges it must traverse whatever it can find. Finding the Rhône Valley in its way the Tour, as it has done on multiple previous occasions, decided a sprint finish into Valence was the way to go.
Though this late in the race sprinters aren’t quite as numerous as they were back in Lille. Jasper Philipsen’s broken his collarbone, Bryan Coquard has gone home with some injured fingers, and the difficult-to-spell-on-an-English-keyboard Søren Wærenskjold abandoned in the mountains. Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan were still there, though, and by far the favourites for the stage.
The stage was rolling enough for a breakaway to fancy its chances, and three riders - Quentin Pacher, Vincenzo Albanese and Mathieu Burgaudeau - who found themselves up the road must have been overjoyed to find themselves in the company of Jonas Abrahamsen, a man who seems to spend most of his time in breakaways. It’s difficult to imagine Abrahamsen doing mundane things like the shopping at home, unless he does it yards in front of the rest of his family and at a pace that to anyone else would seem unsustainable.
It looked like it would be a straight race between them and the sprinter’s teams, but the script hit a twist on the Col du Pertuis. Some of the teams who hadn’t made the breakaway - principally Ineos Grenadiers - started lighting up the race, pushing the peloton up and over the Pertuis at a pace much too quick for the likes of Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier. The break just about stayed away but for a period much too long for their liking, the two main sprinters were off the back of the peloton.
But, to their relief and the dismay of the likes of Jake Stewart and Biniam Girmay, they made it back on. All set for a bunch sprint to the line?
Not quite. Bunch sprints are nervy enough without an act of God, and this was provided by downpours at the finish line. Sprints are hectic, chaotic, dangerous on dry roads. On wet? You’d have to pay me a lot of money to get involved, much more than I’d get paid to be a professional sprinter.
As the rain came down at the finish Wout van Aert tried to roll back the years with a long range attack, only to find himself being rolled back into the peloton instead. Jonas Abrahamsen was the last man out front, holding out until 5 kilometres to the line, but he isn’t French and so didn’t win the most combative rider of the day (congratulations Quentin Pacher).
And then there was a crash. Of course there was. Rain and a sprint finish? Lots of riders who need to prove they haven’t been completely anonymous during this Tour de France? It was a recipe for disaster and so it proved. Tim Merlier was caught behind it, but it was worse for Biniam Girmay and Jake Stewart, both of whom crashed. At the time of writing this Girmay is still in the race, though he rode back to his bus dangling his right arm free of his handlebars, so things don’t look too good.
The front group left to actually contest the sprint was less whittled down and more decimated. Jonathan Milan was by far the best sprinter left and so it’s unsurprising he took his second win of this year’s race, just ahead of a charging Jordi Meeus. Milan should win the green jersey now if - emphasis on if, the Alps loom - he makes it to Paris.
The main contenders meanwhile survived the slippery chaos and will do battle in the high mountains tomorrow. Rumours abound about Pogačar having a cold and Jonas Vingegaard getting better each day, but it’ll have to be more than a sniffle to jeopardise Tadej’s fourth Tour win.
The Tour will be won on the Alp.
Thanks so much for reading The Musette. If you liked this I’d be grateful if you could subscribe!