Key events
17km to go: The peloton works up a little ramp, on a road encased by trees.
The gap has plunged to 35sec.
18km to go: A Soudal-Quick Step DS, on team radio, says the gap has to come down.
“Thanks for letting us know,” think the riders out on the road.
19km to go: There is definitely a touch of concern about catching this break. It is lined out at the front of the bunch.
21km to go: Robbie McEwen reveals that Oliveira, now of Movistar, was a teammate of his at Team Radio Shack, in or around 2011. Remarkable.
22km to go: The average speed on the official site is 50.6km/h – a record, if it holds.
23km to go: Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech) is one of the riders now tasked with shutting this down.
25km to go: The gap is down to 50sec.
Pascal Eenkhorn (Soudal Quick-Step) has done his bit. He’s put in a massive shift on the front, but now he’s done for the day.
26km to go: There are some big technical turns close to the finish. A left-hander swiftly followed by two right-handers. It’s going to be fast, furious and nervy.
Alaphilippe is completely cooked, and is being overtaken by the team cars at the back.
27km to go: Picnic-PostNL are working too. It’s all hands on deck in the peloton.
Kelly just pointed out it’s a shame for the break they lost Alaphilippe. Still, you never know …
29km to go: Now Alpecin-Premier Tech take it up at the front. The gap is still just over a minute.
Can the three riders out front keep co-operating and make the peloton really sweat?
30km to go: “We have to be in front of the pack, then, find the right time to go,” says Max Kanter of XDS Astana of the imminent chaotic sprint finish. “It will not be easy but we’re going to try.”
31km to go: A crash for George Zimmerman (Lotto-Intermarché) and a couple of others.
32km to go: Milan Fretin (Cofidis) is trying to get back in touch with the peloton having dropped back. Unclear it it was a mechanical or a “natural break”.
33km to go: The pace picks up. The gap is 1min 12 sec. NSN are leading the way on the front of the chasing pack. XDS Astana are there too.
37km to go: The bunch crests the climb. Now the game of cat-and-mouse begins – when, ideally, should the bunch make the catch? They don’t want to bring these three riders back too early and risk counterattacks on the road to Nevers.
38.5km to go: Alaphilippe is dropped, or sits up, on the climb.
Charmig, Le Berre, Oliveira keep pumping the legs and maintaining a one-minute advantage on the peloton.
41km to go: Decathlon-CMA CGM have started to work, for Olav Kooij.
Pogacar, in yellow jersey and shorts and white shoes/socks, is pictured riding safely in pack.
42km to go: The escape group will shortly hit the Côte de Billy-Chevannes, the second and final categorised climb of the day.
43km to go: The gap is 1min 02sec. The sprinters’ teams continue to keep the pace high at the front of the peloton to control this gap.
47km to go: The fastest projected schedule had the finish at 17:31 local time. That’s an hour and 10 minutes’ time so they are bound to be done sooner than that.
49km to go: Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos) had a puncture and is being paced back to the bunch.
It feels like Netcompany-Ineos have done quite a lot of work for not much reward at this Tour so far. Thymen Arensman was prominent early on yesterday, looking keen to try and get in the break, but it wasn’t to be.
49km to go: It was a decent day for Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) yesterday: He could not deliver the elusive Bastille Day win for France, but he did move up a place in GC, from sixth to fifth. Likewise, Remco Evenepoel moved up into the podium places – he did extremely well to recover having been dropped by that elite chase group – while Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) moved into fourth.
52km to go: “I was struck by the average speed of almost 32mph in old money today,” emails Jem. “I’m as sad as any other cyclist with my Strava stats but only ever see speeds like that whilst heading in a downwards direction – not as an average over 160km.
“What incredible athletes they are – and as for people booing Pogi, I think its a privilege to be living in a time when we can witness such an amazing rider. Somewhat predictable – yes. Boring – never.
“Can’t wait until Edinburgh 2027!”
55km to go: The edge has come off the very hot pace, but only slightly. They are still clocking 51km/h.
It’s notable that XDS Astana are working today, for Max Kanter, along with Soudal Quick Step (for Merlier) and NSN for Girmay.
58km to go: The Côte de Billy-Chevannes is coming up soon. It crests with 37.9km remaining.
64km to go: “We hope so,” says Sam Bewley, an NSN sports director, of the prospect of a Girmay stage win later. “It’s a bit complex in the final, so we have to be smart in the way we use our resources … ultimately, we have to get the timing is right. We know Philipsen, Merlier and Kooij are all fast … we have to use guys early to make sure we are in the right place, then the chicane with 1.5km to go [is important.”
66km to go: Correction and apologies to Oliveira of Movistar. He won a Vuelta stage in 2015. Rob Hatch also points out that this is his 24th grand tour.
1min 25sec is the gap.
68km to go: The race is winding through Decize. In a few kilometres the riders will roll through “La Machine”.
72km to go: The average speed, according to letour.fr, is 52.1km/h. If they keep this up it’ll be the fastest ever road stage at the Tour.
The fastest was in 1999, from Laval to Blois, with an average speed of 50.36km/h.
Tim Merlier had a chat with TNT Sports earlier: “It was a long stage [yesterday]. Yeah. I exploded completely because of the heat again. I was suffering, I needed water to cool down, the water didn’t come, and I exploded completely.
“Luckily I could still push to survive over the climbs. The guys [his teammates] did a great job. But I don’t like it. Second time in my career, I think, that my teammates needed to stay with me to bring me ‘in time’.”
Was he worried about the time cut?
“When we were 50km from the finish, I was pretty sure we were going to make it … we were close behind the grupetto … I knew I was quite safe.
“It’s extra motivation to win [today], for the teammates who stayed with me. I don’t like that they need to stay with me. Let’s hope I can give a a victory to them.”
79km to go: “When you’re a big champ, the fans at roadside get behind you,” Sean Kelly, on commentary, says of Pogacar. “When you start winning too much, they go against you, and that is the case with Pogacar at the moment.
“You cannot win when you’re a big champion, and a super athlete like Pogacar.”
80km to go: Le Berre (TotalEnergies) won the Tour de Normandie in 2022, as well as a race called the Boucle de l’Artois. He rode the Vuelta in 2023.
Charmig (Uno X-Mobility) won a stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AKA the Dauphiné) this year, but victories are nowhere else to be seen on his pro record.
Oliveira (Movistar) doesn’t have a pro win on his record.
86km to go: You probably don’t need me to tell you that Alaphilippe is by far the most decorated rider among our four escapees. He won the world championship road race twice – in 2020 and 2021 – he’s won six Tour de France stages, Flèche Wallonne three times, Milano-Sanremo in 2019, Strade Bianche in 2019 … He’s not the force he was, but what a career the Frenchman has had.
88km to go: Wow, they are really covering this ground speedily. We are way ahead of the fastest time schedule. The gap between break and peloton is 1min 29sec.
96km to go: “They need to do something about the slime in the moat, because you can’t see the fish,” the commentator Carlton Kirby says of some chateau or other. “It was built in the 15th century.”
98km to go: The gap is 1min 13sec, so the situation is not changing, and probably won’t for a while.
“I think Gary is right about the parcours and that, perhaps, it’s tipped a little too much towards Pogi,” emails James. “They’ve moved towards most of the Tour being semi-classics stages, medium mountains or mountains with sprints – and TTs basically being sidelined.
“I understand why – those are the stages people tune in for – but it’s overtipped the balance towards the best climbers. Not enough TT or different sorts of terrain for others to stake a claim. TT is, in particular, the only sort of GC stage where Pog clearly isn’t the strongest and a big, old-style TT might give another rider something.
“I’m not naive enough to think they’d win but… it’d give Pog a challenge that lots of stages like yesterday don’t.”
“Good to see Julian back in the break,” says Romain Bardet, on the TNT Sports motorbike, of his compatriot … “He had a lot of family at the start, a lot of motivation … today was a good opportunity for him to properly launch his second week.
“The wet roads made it tricky for the riders,” Bardet adds of the start. “I think Alpecin didn’t want to commit to the chase today. They have been the most organised team in the final, but Jasper Philipsen couldn’t deliver the perfect sprint, so maybe they wanted to try a different approach today.”
101km to go: Soudal Quick-Step are doing the lion’s share of the work at the front right now. Tim Merlier wants No 3.
There is a replay of a fan lobbing some water on the breakaway riders on the streets of Moulins.
102km to go: The race is passing through Moulins. No shortage of happy fans at the roadside. The gap is 1min 20sec.
104km to go: The gap is 1min 21sec.
By the way, tomorrow’s stage between Magny-Cours and Chalon-sur-Saône is another “flat” stage, albeit one with 1,800m of climbing.
105km to go: “I suspect much of the booing (not that there’s a great deal) should be directed against the organisation in putting too many mountain stages into the parcours,” emails Gary Naylor. “They’ve become as predictable as Mario Cipollini’s Saeco train and Dave Duffield exclaiming “The Lion King roars again!”
”The rouleurs need those long transition stages (250km-plus); the pure climbers need to be able to drop 20 minutes and then go for stages instead of being employed as super-domestiques for GC men who don’t need them; we need stretches on coastal roads with crosswinds a threat and some cobbles for the classics men to have a pop at the GT specialists. Most of all, we need an early long ITT to give a chance to non-climbers to go into yellow and then have their teams defend it. Maybe go back to the Pyrenees at Stages 10-12 and the Alps at Stages 16-19 or vice-versa.”
108km to go: And 1min 08sec the gap. Surely they are doing this on purpose.
110km to go: Liam Slock’s assault on a solo win (stage eight to Bergerac) was really thrilling. Even luminaries of the breakaway game such as Thomas de Gendt thought he had it in the bag with 10km to go.
Today, I doubt we will see that much excitement, in terms of the sprinters’ teams nearly making a mess of the catch … but time will tell.
111km to go: And 1min 11sec the gap.
All the 1s.
113km to go: “Somewhere near Slane,” emails Bronagh from the Republic of Ireland.
“LouLou loves a bit of camera action so the break won’t last but he’ll get to wiggle his eyebrows in a French way for a bit.
“I’m calling for a diminished sprint and saying today is Girmay’s moment (now watch him drop like a stone).”
118km to go: Philipsen spoke to TNT Sports before the stage. Does Van der Poel’s win take the pressure off a bit?
“It makes a big change in the atmosphere if someone can win … For Mathieu to deliver a win, it was a relief for us.”
Does he think the team need to change something in the lead-out?
“For today? I think we just have to keep doing what we’re doing, and results will follow sooner or later … we are going to work for it … the legs should be there … stick to the plan, we’ll see what the result will be.”
119km to go: The average pace is 53.4km/h. It’s going to be a fast day with a potentially dangerous break up the road.
121km to go: The four-man break has 1min 27sec.
A little earlier, on commentary for TNT Sports, Matt Stephens said this group lacks the really big engines you’d need for it to stay away.
123km to go: Both the break and peloton have been over the first climb, the Côte de Billonnière, a cheeky little category-four. The official site doesn’t seem to say who nabbed the KOM point.
125km to go: Julian Alaphilippe, Mathis Le Berre, Nelson Oliveira, and Anthon “This” Charmig “Man” are in the break.
By far the superior version.
127km to go: “Everybody is ready, and I think that will make a big difference to my lead-out train,” Biniam Girmay of NSN said before the start today. He mentioned that there had been some illness in the team in the first week.
132km to go: Philipsen and Kanter both beat Pedersen to the sprint point. Pedersen went early, and effectively led out Philipsen.
Kanter came past him too. Is that mini-win a good sign for Philipsen later?
132km to go: Slock has given up the chase.
134km to go: Oliveira nearly just lost his back wheel on a left-hand bend. The road is moist.
Le Berre wins the sprint. Then Oliveira, Alaphilippe, Charmig.
Le Berre powered away from Charmig before the sprint and no one looked too bothered.
