Icon: enlarge
Primoz Roglič celebrates his stage success
Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
Winner of the potato
medal
:
The Latvian Krists Neilands tore out the peloton ten kilometers after the start in Sisteron with five escapees, he then drove 140 of the remaining 150 kilometers and was then swallowed by the field on the final climb.
These are the frustrating moments of professional cycling, seen so often, but always pitiful.
After all: The sponsor is happy to see his jersey in the camera for hours.
And Neilands will have two things for the next day: the red start number as an award for the most combative driver and damn tired legs.
Winner of the day:
There were actually two when reaching the mountain in the Orcieres-Merlette ski resort: Primoz Roglič won the stage with his start shortly before the finish and flexed his muscles, but Julian Alaphilippe not only stayed in his neck until the finish line, he kept it also his yellow jersey.
France's Alaphilippe Festival will continue for now.
You can read more about the course of the stage here.
Challenge of the day:
The tour is only four stages old and - very unusual - has already reached its first mountain.
With the advantage, however, that all drivers are still relatively fresh and not yet exhausted from numerous stages.
So all favorites came up the final ascent relatively easily, and the arrival even became a kind of finish sprint for the stars.
Country and people:
What would the tour be without the country studies?
What ARD man Florian Naß can do, we can too: The natural scientist Joseph Philippe Deleuze comes from the starting place Sisteron, after whom the Leuzea from the daisy family is named.
The excellent cheese dish Le Gapençais comes from the nearby Gap, a pear schnapps Eau-de-vie de Poire is distilled in the region, and the twin town of the Serres route is Katzenelnbogen in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The destination and the tour:
Orcieres-Merlette falls out of the cultural beauties of France, it is a satellite place for skiers with at most impressive concrete castles.
But the town's cycling history has it all: The tour was once a guest here in 1971, and the Spaniard Luis Ocana inflicted one of his most terrible defeats on the great Eddy Merckx when he took almost ten minutes from him.
However, Merckx won the tour because he and Ocana fell four days later in heavy rain and the Spaniard was knocked over by Joop Zoetemelk, who was following behind, when he got up.
Hospital instead of Champs Elysees, and Merckx then refused to put on the yellow jersey because it was not his due.
Pure tour history.
(And we don't even want to talk about 1989, when Greg Lemond in the mountain time trial brought out the decisive seconds later compared to Laurent Fignon)
From a German point of view:
Nils Politt was one of the brave six who looked for a ride in an escape group early on.
In between, the Hürther even drove ten kilometers alone at the front, only to be passed through by the peloton later.
He can't buy much from it, but he is one of those who shaped this stage.
Well flown:
Roglič is one of those who was mentioned again and again before the tour when it comes to favorites.
The fact that Roglič used to be a ski jumper should never be left out.
One can say: On this stage, the Slovenian did a perfect telemark and got the jump off ideally.
And he didn't even need wind support for that.
The outlook:
In the first few days the drivers had to pedal their way through the Maritime Alps, and on Wednesday the sprinters can finally show what they can do.
Drivers like Monsieur Grünes Trikot, Peter Sagan, and especially Andre Greipel suffered badly on Tuesday when the last mountain was waiting.
Usually the first week is yours when you get your stage wins.
This year they have their chance at least this Wednesday.
Icon: The mirror
