Tour de France stage 7 live - A chance for the sprinters in Bordeaux
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100KM TO GO Thankfully there is a tailwind aiding the riders in their relaxed journey to Bordeaux today. It's time for a feed as the musettes and bidons begin to be passed throughout the pack.
Today's finishing City, Bordeaux, has been visited in the Tour 85 times and is only second only to Paris in terms of appearances. We haven't been here for years, however, as the last time it was used was in 2010.
On that occasion, the sprint was won by a certain Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) ahead of Julian Dean, Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen and Óscar Freire. On that day, the Manx Missile was still at the peak of his powers and was able to even enjoy a look back at the field as he eased to his fourth of five victories at the 2010 Tour. (Image credit: Getty)
Here's an update from the CPA, the union that works to protect riders among other things, that today's 3km rule will be enforced earlier at 3.6km before two trick bends arrive into Bordeaux.
The GC teams will race until this point before hopefully clearing the way for the lead-out trains to take up the mantle at the front and battle it out in the final sprint. Today, on behalf of the riders we have requested the jury of commissaires to obtain the last 3 KLM rule at 3klm600 before 2 tricky bends. Thank you @UCI_cycling and @LeTour for accepting our request for the safety of the riders 🙏👏👏#SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/YrTgLxzjQvJuly 7, 2023 See more
Guglielmi is chatting away to those on race vehicles alongside him at the front of the race as he toils away is pursuit of the combativity prize and gold race number for tomorrow.
Here's another look at the day's very flat profile. There is one KOM point available at the top of the Côte de Béguey (1.2km at 4.4%), but that is far too easy to have an effect on our sprint field here. (Image credit: ASO)
130KM TO GO Guglielmi's gap at the front has been reduced to 4:07, not by any real acceleration, however, as the peloton is still completely calm with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto-Dstny swapping turns.
Lotto-Dstny have clear ambitions of winning this stage as they are the team most prominent at the front of the peloton. Caleb Ewan will be their man for the final sprint, and the Australian has come the closest to beating Philipsen so far. On stage 3 he was third, but finished runner-up on stage 4 and was only beaten to the line by half a wheel.
Can the Australian go one better today for his sixth Tour de France victory? (Image credit: Getty Images)
Happy birthday to Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ). The 25-year-old Ducthman is on Tour de France debut in this year's race. Fêter son anniversaire sur le Tour ✔️Happy birthday Lars! 25 ans 🎂 pic.twitter.com/UmQpdCiQbFJuly 7, 2023 See more
The teams with big sprinters are taking up their positions at the head of the peloton, but without any impetus as a solo breakaway rider shouldn't be any threat to their ambitions for the day.
150KM TO GO Guglielmi, thankfully, has a tailwind as the only thing to help him on a day where he'll be all alone for a number of hours. He was in the break on the opening stage of this year's Tour as well and now has a gap of 6:31 over the peloton.
Vingegaard is sitting calmly at the back of the relaxed peloton and waving to the cameras. Here he is at the startline with the other key protagonist of this year's Tour.
Today won't be a day for them, however, with a bunch sprint well on the cards. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Right well that's the break of the day gone in just Guglielmi, who is probably not best pleased with his sports directors leaving him out there on his own. The gap to our lone leader is approaching three minutes already.
Shake of the head for Guglielmi as Burgaudeau is the next to stop trying. Both the Frenchman had conversations on the radio, but were clearly given different instructions.
Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) have knocked off their effort already with Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) staying with the move for now.
Four riders have somewhat of a split for now, one from TotalEnergies, Arkéa-Samsic, Movistar and Uno-X. They are looking around, however, so may not be totally comfortable.
169.9KM TO GO We're underway on stage 7 of the Tour de France! We had no breakaway for over 100km on the last flat day, stage 4. Hopefully, we will see more riders chancing their hand at making the break today.
We're in the former home of cycling legend, Luis Ocaña, the Spaniard who won the 1973 Tour de France and was a key rival for Eddy Merckx. Read more about his history and the contenders for the day in Stephen Farrand's great preview of the day's racing below.
Cavendish growing in confidence as Tour de France sprint chances return - Stage 7 preview
We're underway from the neutral start, the départ fictif, with big crowds already lining the roads in Mont-de-Marsan. The town has a rich history of sport with a with-known team in both rugby and football sharing the same name: Stade Montois.
Apart from the obvious hot and sunny weather, there is also meant to be a cross-tailwind for the majority of the route which should play a part in positioning and ensuring, if any splits form, you are on the correct side of them. Teams will need to be attentive throughout the day.
Here's an early look at our new yellow jersey, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), as he prepares for stage 7 outside the Jumbo team bus as spotted by Stephen Farrand, one of the great Cyclingnews' team on the ground at the Tour.
He took the jersey yesterday after Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe) was dropped on the Tourmalet, but did lose time to his key rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Both of the bunch sprints at this year's Tour have been won by Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who has combined perfectly with lead-out extraordinaire, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), to come into the final few hundred metres a the head of the bunch, allowing the Belgian to hold off the oncoming charge behind.
Will anyone be able to stop them and the rest of the well-oiled Alpecin lead-out on an incredibly flat day?
The racing has been heating up throughout this incredible first week of racing, and it's actually heating up on the ground at the race in Mont-de-Marsan.
Take a look at Danish national champion, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), doing the media rounds with an ice vest on to regulate his temperature before the action kicks off. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Riders are getting ready for the start in Mont-de-marsan with neutralised racing set to get underway at 13:15 CEST and our official start to be taken at 13:30 CEST.
Two days of Pyrenean punishment are behind us and today should be another chance for the sprinters are we head north, at times alongside the river Garonne, and into the finish in Bordeaux for the first time in 13 years.
Source: Cyclingnews
