Everything you need to know about the race and its side effects with the fifth stage, much feared by the peloton with the crossing of cobbled sections between Lille and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut.
Special envoy to Lille
Profile of the stage: Lille-Arenberg Porte du Hainaut (153.7 km)
The stage of all the dangers of the first week, the one that makes the peloton’s legs tremble, even that of the favorites, in the North. Don’t be fooled by its flat profile without any hills, with just a planted sprint 34 km after the start: the eleven cobblestone sectors on the program (four of which are regularly used on Paris-Roubaix) over 19.4 km will make the day extremely perilous and tense, with high risks of falling for the riders competing for the general classification. Tadej Pogacar will certainly not win the Tour de France this Wednesday but he could very well lose everything if unfortunately he experiences a mechanical failure or is the victim of a puncture. Half of the peloton is not used to the cobblestones, which will contribute to tense the atmosphere a little more. More, perhaps than during a Paris-Roubaix which concentrates, on the contrary, a huge proportion of runners accustomed to the cobblestones.
Schedules:
The actual start is set at 1:35 p.m. and the estimated arrival at 5:34 p.m. with an average speed of 42 km/h.
The prognosis of… Luc Leblanc (world champion in road cycling in 1994)
“This year, we said each time that things were going to happen before the stages and in the end nothing happened at all, except in the final on Tuesday… But with twenty-two cobblestone terminals on the program, there is enough to move the lines a little. A winner? I don’t know but above all I see big risks of losing everything for certain favorites or outsiders who are playing for the general classification. Tadej Pogacar has rarely ridden on the cobblestones and this will rub the front of the peloton a lot. The teams of sprinters will want to get in front, like the formations of the favorites who will want to protect their leader up front. I can see the Quick-Step team messing up. I would bet on them again. They are making an excellent start to the Tour.”
Not to be missed on the course:
Should we still present Lille, stage city for the 19e time in its history, with its magnificent Grand’Place, the crossroads of major fairs between North and South, also called Place du Général de Gaulle, or the unmissable Palais des Beaux-Arts, municipal museum of art and Antiquity created in 1792. A stop will also be required at the Arenberg pit mine, a former coal mine in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining area, located in Wallers, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a few kilometers before the arrival.
The specialty to get your teeth into:
If you’re in Lille, why not let yourself be tempted by a little Flemish carbonade, not necessarily seasonal in the middle of summer when it’s very hot, but effective to quench a big hunger: beef that has been simmered for a long time in beer. It can be served with a good gratin dauphinois. For dessert, the greediest will be tempted by the Pavé d’Enfer, a cake with orange marmalade, a must this Wednesday given the menu of the day between Lille and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut.
The expression of the day: “Uncork all the piles of dung”
Used when a runner fires at all costs by attacking as soon as he can, without a very specific plan. In the countryside, dung was commonplace on the roads in the early 20th century.
Ex: “He has to stop uncovering all the piles of dung. It tires me not to respect any instructions! »
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