Toulouse > Toulouse 156km
What a first week that was, hats off to the ASO for some well-designed stages. It all started with Philipsen taking the first yellow jersey in Lille, while Evenepoel lost time in the crosswinds. Alpecin won the next stage too, Van der Poel was at his brilliant best to hold off Pogačar to take the stage and the yellow jersey in what was a thrilling finale. Next up it was Merlier beating Milan by a baw hair before Pogačar flipped the script on Van der Poel in Rouen. The TT went to Remco, with Pogačar moving into yellow, next day it was the first chance for the breakaway, and no one could get close to a flying Ben Healy and Van der Poel moved back into yellow by just 1 second. Mûr-de-Bretagne ended in a GC sprint, with Pogačar beating Vingegaard and moving back into yellow, but special mention to my fellow Scot, Oscar Onley. He finished 3rd, the first time a Scot has managed this since 2012. Stage 8 was another for the fast men and Milan won a grippy sprint, his first success in the Tour de France, but the next day Merlier was back on top, with Milan in 2nd place, and then came Bastille Day, which was another day for the break. Healy was laser focused on moving into yellow, so he sacrificed the stage win and it was Simon Yates taking the win for Visma. In a change to normal previews, I’ll now provide an update for each of the classifications.
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