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Another sprint train day! Good roads, flat, with some minor hilliness to sap the legs. Outside of Vandeleville (166 k) there is a cat 4 uphill pull on good roads to the Col des Trois Fontaines (170.5 k). This is not likely to make a difference at the end but it could be a chance for an attack, with only 30 k remaining until the finish. More likely, this will be a BOTD day, with the peloton taking things a little easier behind, and the sprint trains taking over near the end.


[im...

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It's Monday - it must be Belgium! We will pass through Luxembourg on our way back to France. This is a lumpy day, but with the exception of the finish into Longwy, this looks very likely to be another day with no selections made. The route is on open and good roads. The uphill finish is short - but sharp - with a max gradient of 11%. This looks like a BOTD day, with the break getting caught at the end. It might be a day for Tommy Voelckler to get in the break and animate the race, hoping for a s...

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The question today will be whether our TT champ from yesterday will keep the yellow jersey, and all my bets will be on "Yes."  Towards the end of the day, there are two lumps and a brief Cat 4 climb. Which are entirely unlikely to make a selection - they appear to be on good, wide roads, with no tweaks to present any particular difficulty. The day should be very fast, and it will come down to the sprint trains. The finish is a nice long straight run-in, with one less than radical right-hander at...

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Tour de France Stage 5 - Vittel › La Planche des Belles Filles 160km

After yesterday's boring/most bodacious (delete as appropriate) sprint, we get our first MTF of the Tour and as there aren't many of them, us and the riders better make the most of it.

It doesn't seem that long since we were last here at the Planche des Belles Fil...

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Legend of a race has been revived from its ashes. As a compensation for the loss of the “Tour of Flanders” start place Golazo Sports offers Bruges the revival of the 11-town tour (Elfstedenronde) after 28 years!

The 11-town tour started out in 1943 and has been held uninterruptedly until 1974 and then had a brief period between 1987 & 1989. The field never really was international but for Dutchmen and some Belgian-resident Brits like Michael Wright who came 2nd in 1969. Otherwise som...