Welcome back to the Lantern Rouge Cycling Podcast for the hardest Tour de France stage, maybe grand tour stage, we have ever covered and maybe we've seen in the last 20 years in terms of overall difficulty, this was the Sanger Vémon Blanc to Quorscheville stage, the queen stage of the tour featuring four proper climbs, 166 Ks, but it would still be a five hour plus stage for a lot of these riders.

And we have the Caldice Z, straight off the bat, category one climb, 10 points for K&M on offer, 13.5 Ks, 5.1%, but a bit irregular, descent, no flat, then the 20 km 6% corner de Rosalon, only a category one, bit mean, then another descent, a little bit of 10K Valley, our first value is with 88 Ks done in the race, then the Cout de Longevois, which is 6.7 Ks, 7.5%, a very technical descent off that.

And then another short valley before the 30 km climb up to Caldice Longevois, now they don't do the same direction as 2020, it is slightly easier this time, 10K, 7%, 3Ks recovery in Meribel, where Luke has a chalet, and then another 12, 11Ks, 8% up to 2,300 meters, the souvenir entry to Grand Wrench before a technical descent down to the finish, and then a brutal uphill to the Altyport Benji 5,400 meters,

elevation gain, this is very different to all the other stages we've had, including shoe plan.

Yeah, that's a lot, eh, that's not a sprint stage, that's not the stage where you'll say Philips, then we'll out sprint Welpsford on the Altyport to Kursheville, that's for sure.

This is a very hard stage, and especially because the situation for GC, it wasn't completely dead yet, yes, the gap was significant enough yesterday, so we were kind of worried that the tour was over yesterday evening,

but there's still something there, there's still something new we can do, there's still something Yombo can do, because they're also not 100% certain yet,

so the stage this promise some fireworks, especially also for the battle of the podium, the third position, and then the fight within the top 10, and to get in the top 10.

So I was curious to see all those chess moves, because I feel like today's stage started off as a chess match between teams, it kind of felt like that.

And then we've got the obvious thought, the breakaway formation face, we've got loads of teams that want to be in the breakaway, but we also know the other factor, we know that on the shoe plan stage, which was a few days ago, Yombo based regardless of who was ahead, I was kind of expecting that same formula today, because

well, despite them being ahead in GC, they still want to make sure that, well, Gacha's burst is a bit less on the final climb, and the same way that it did a few days ago, so I expected somewhat of facing Yombo from Yombo behind in the first place, but

large breakaway stride getting away, we had breakaway formations that actually cost trouble from people behind, right, because at a certain moment, Adam Yates was behind.

Yeah, in the initial flat bit before the call, this has even started, there was, you know, some good tug buddy action, love to see it, and it really split the group apart, Chakone was ahead with Patterson and Powis.

Powis was refusing to work with him, and so I don't really know.

Powis kind of, he had no chance for K, I'm really up, you know, even before this stage, and then, yeah, Yates was split off the back with Hindley, with like three other UAE domostiques.

And I think they even went up and art was not looking good throughout this whole, so he was doing, you know how Benji, the start of the couple stage last year in the tour, he had that off feel about him.

Where he's just like dangling at the back, where you're at the back during break formation, and anyway, but yeah, they were split off the back, UAE brought him back, no problems.

Get to call this as he, I'll flip jumping too much, I'm like my man, Trek have been doing tug buddy action every stage, the break will not go unless Chakone is in it.

Just follow the man in the polka dot trousers, top hat sunglasses, head unit socks, follow that man, and you will get in the break away, and you won't have to put your nose in the wind.

Would be my suggestion before today's stage anyway, break goes, and it does have our leap in it has Hague, Chaconish, Gelmosa, so trekker happy, it's got coached a girl.

Lafayver, marker, nailens, three from Jacob, though, Simon Yates, Cratic and Harper, and Simon Yates started this stage in.

I don't know, eighth in GC on 13 minutes or something, and he's got tug buddies in their shampoo, sangra guard, all the sudden Benji.

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