Remco Evenepoel will go into Friday’s important individual time trial with the white jersey on his shoulders.
Thursday’s run from Mâcon to Dijon was a flat one, perfect for the sprinters to fight again, although another scenario was likely, due to the presence of some strong winds in the second part of the stage. For that reason, there weren’t too many breakaway attempts, the one or two attacks that came early being easily nullified by the peloton.
Around 80 kilometers from the finish, the peloton split as soon as the wind picked up, leaving only 60 riders in the main group. Remco Evenepoel was there, surrounded by Soudal Quick-Step teammates Yves Lampaert and Gianni Moscon, who kept him well-placed on the exposed roads of Burgundy. The gap between the group quickly went up to twenty seconds, but the chasers managed to make it back once the riders made right and the wind changed direction.
The peloton was expecting more crosswinds in the final 40 kilometers, but this threat failed to materialise and they continued as one until Dijon, where the Tour de France returned after 27 years. Unlike 1997 when the breakaway prevailed, this time the victor emerged after another mass gallop, won by Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla). The Soudal Quick-Step boys all came home together, and Remco made a visit to the podium to take his fifth white jersey, a first for a Belgian rider at a single edition of the Tour de France in the last 31 years.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
