Ten months after the unforgettable 2020 edition contested in August with a field worthy of the Tour de France, the southern event promises to be very open until Sunday.
The guestbook shines but does not lie. Five of the last six editions of the Route du Sud, which has become Route d’Occitanie-La Dépêche du Midi, have crowned a rider appearing on the list of Grand Tours winners. The last of them, Egan Bernal, has just brought back the pink jersey of the Giro in Milan, his first success since his arrival as leader last summer at Rocamadour… But the Colombian will be far from Cazouls-lès-Béziers, just the hour when the peloton of the Southerners will leave the Hérault for the Tarn, its historical cradle. There will be, all the same, a Quintana, on the starting list, but it is Dayer, the young brother of Nairo who escorts Gesbert and Rosa to Arkéa.
What if Carr took advantage of it?
Never has the race for the coral jersey seemed so open. Notice to “amateurs” and perhaps to the regional ones. Alexandre Geniez will remember that eleven years ago, he ranked second behind David Moncoutié, since then no Occitan has managed to enter the shelves inaugurated in 1977 by Jacques Esclassan.
Simon Carr, 8th at Ventoux on Tuesday, can take advantage of the work at the Giro to shine at home. The young Audois will be accompanied by Magnus Cort the experienced Danish as well as by the Australian Mitchell Dokker, one of the few participants who has already won a stage (it was in Castres, the year of Moncoutuié and Geniez, Johan Mombaerts, Jean- Marc Marino and Julien Loubet, who escaped with him, remember it well…). On what he has shown since the start of the year during rough or downright mountainous days, the Franco-Briton is allowed to dream.
Moser awaits his successor
He will meet again in the Pyrenees (Saturday, it will still be necessary to climb five passes including the Tourmalet and the Menté up to the Mourtis resort for a drop of 4000 m) the Navarre Oscar Rodriguez, the one who best withstood ” Superman “Lopez, his former leader, during the two climbs of Ventoux earlier this week. The Movistars record the comeback of the Austrian Mühlberger (he had finished 3rd on a stage of the Tour in Bagnères behind Simon Yates and Pello Bilbao) and also take the young American Matteo Jorgenson who leaves the Giro. Lilian Calmejane (in the company of Tony Gallopin and Clément Champoussin) continues his “reintegration” after his fractured foot, he is the best climber in title but his beautiful torn jersey had coincided with the start of … trouble. The Treks, few in number, present with Giulio Ciccone (he was in the Top 10 of the Giro when he had to retire after a crash in the third week) and Gianluca Brambilla, superb during the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes, real guarantees. What hope to wake up Francesco Moser, the only Italian to have won here.
But on these first two days, Arnaud Démare will undoubtedly want to add a fifth line to his southern score. He arrives with his best train.
–
