Velódromo Cubierto de San Juan > Velódromo Cubierto de San Juan 145.7km

After the GC fun it’s time for the sprinters to get back in the mix. I see a standard sprint stage; it could be a little on the boring side.

Weather

Hot and sunny. There’s a little bit of wind at the end but it shouldn’t be enough to cause echelons.

Living in a Box

Near the end the bunch complete two laps of this square, I don’t recall ever seeing something like this before. Hopefully, it’s not a trend that catches on!

Finale

The finishing straight is 6km long. The road is four lanes wide but has little plastic poles down the middle. The organisers will hopefully have had these removed, providing a wide road for the sprinters to enjoy.

The wind is coming from the right-hand side and is a lovely cross/tailwind. The speed will be around 17km/h, if a team pushes the pace at the front in the left gutter, it’s going to be hard to move up the right-hand side.

Contenders

Fabio Jakobsen – one win so far in this race, he’ll want more than that. With Remco in the train, we all know that he’s going to be in a good position for the final kilometre. His win was very impressive, he’ll be confident of taking his second win in this stage.

Sam Bennett – got a win in the opening stage but didn’t look that good the next day. Bora are playing a clever game in the final 3km. They know that Remco is going to blast to the front, but instead of trying to challenge him, they sit behind Jakobsen and wait for him to finish his pull. When Remco swings off, that’s when van Poppel starts to move Sam up the line. With van Poppel at his side, Bennett knows he’s going to have a great position for the sprint, then it’s over to his legs.

Fernando Gaviria – he’s looked great in this race, it’s clear he’s been working hard over the winter. He doesn’t have a great sprint train, but he’s still been able to finish 1^st and 2^nd this week. To win the stage, he needs to get on Jakobsen’s wheel and hope he starts his sprint a little on the early side.

Prediction Time

I think QuickStep will nail the sprint, and the cross/tailwind means everyone else will suffer.

Embed from Getty Images

I’ll take a win for Fabio Jakobsen.