Here’s the possibly first decisive stage of the 109th Tour de France. The 153.7km course from Lille Métropole to Arenberg-Porte du Hainaut features an equivalent amount of bone-jarring action in what is the most acrobatic challenge of the opening week, with a total of 19.4km of cobblestones displayed in 11 sections from 73.7km to go till 5.1km to the stage finish at Arenberg. It’s a mix of the ingredients of the so-called Paris-Roubaix type of stage already held in 2014 and 2018. It’s the day of many fears for the GC contenders and many hopes for the specialists of the classics like Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Alexander Kristoff, Matej Mohoric and Stefan Küng. Following his brilliant victory in the yellow jersey at Calais, Van Aert is probably hungry for more on a terrain he loves. Van der Poel also dreams of winning Paris-Roubaix. As he hasn’t been able to express his talent since the inaugural time trial in Copenhagen, the Dutchman will give his arch-rival a good run for his money.
