Thanks to the paved sector, Tuesday’s fourth stage already had the air of a spring classic, but only today will the competitors enjoy the famous cubes in all their glory. The peloton will cover a total of seventeen kilometers on eleven thundering sections, four of the last five sectors have already been covered by the riders at the Paris-Roubaix monument in April, the famous Hell of the North. The peloton enters the first section after eighty kilometers, and the last one spits out the competitors seven kilometers before the finish line in Arenberg.
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Dice in the itinerary of Grand Tour races have their opponents and supporters, in the Tour de France program the cobbled bones were driven for the last time in 2018. In any case, Wednesday’s event made the classicists happy, and Mathieu van der Poel, Alexander Kristoff, Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven or the last Paris-Roubaix winner Dylan van Baarle. Will Wout van Aert keep the leader’s yellow jersey?
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Profile 5. etapy Tour de France 2022.Photo: letour.com
On the other hand, Tadej Pogačar, the defender of the last two titles, watched the fifth episode of Old Lady with concern. The Slovenian star has minimal experience with ice skating and completed her first race on pavé in her professional career only this year.
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“The bone crusher in the fifth stage is probably the most acrobatic challenge of the opening week of the Tour. Good preparation and absolute concentration will be the best weapons of each of the favorites if they want to think about success even after this test,” says Tour director Christian Prudhomme about Wednesday’s stage.
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