It was a chaotic day today with the wind making for a constant tension in the peloton, the road was constantly full with plenty of crashes marking the stage, as for the end it was as predicted one for the powerhouse sprinters, not often does he get it right but today Cees Bol did his job perfectly and took a dominant win in the downhill sprint to Amilly, winning in front of Mads Pedersen and Michael Matthews, who is now the new leader of the GC.
Positive: Bol taking a big win, matching his potential, Matthews getting some more time in the IS sprints and in the end, getting himself into the lead.
Negative: Lots of riders hit the deck, George Bennett and Gregor Muhlberger who may be a part of the GC race included, they haven't lost time though. Démare completely missed the sprint.
The Route
It's a very nice TT, one where small differences will be made but won't be race deciding for sure. There is a 300 meter long ramp at 10% there at kilometer two, and from there on it's essentially a pan-flat TT with a small ramp at the finish. It's a loop around Gien, and it has quite some turns despite being a short route, but nothing that should dethrone the superiority of the specialists.
The Weather
It's going to be a cold and cloudy day but that shouldn't make much difference in a TT, the wind will be felt in a breeze from north, may come as a headwind in the bulk of the TT.
The Favourites
This isn't a route for the pure time-trialists is my first view looking at the route. Although they will naturally be the favourites there is room for surprises, there is a short but steep ramp near the start which will interupt the constant pace many will be looking to put out, the small ramp at the end shouldn't but can make a small difference aswell, but mainly in the flat section there are quite a lot of turns, some braking and freewheeling at times which isn't perfect for the specialists, and mainly favour those that are in absolute top form capable of continuously making big accelarations.
In the purists field you've obviously got Rohan Dennis who many believe to be the man to beat but I don't think that's the case. He's got a big engine but this isn't a TT for big engines, he has lost time today (but also worked a lot) thinking of tomorrow, he has some rivals beginning in Victor Campenaerts who's in great form and should very likely like the sharp and technical aspect of the time-trial and he'll be giving it his absolute all, there's EF's Stefan Bisseger who is a powerhouse, I'm unsure how well it fits him, we'll get that answer tomorrow though. In the field of the powerhouse time-trialists you've got men like Soren Kragh Andersen who won last year's much hillier course, Remi Cavagna the French national champion in the discipline and riders like Jos van Emden, Mattias Brandle or Luke Durbridge who could in a pan-flat TT of this distance be of a big threat.
However that's not the case, and riders like Primoz Roglic or Max Schachmann may be at the head of affairs aswell seeing how they will have to fight for every second and will also love those sharp inclines they'll have to ride twice, in that field you can include the leader Michael Matthews who very often flies in this kind of route, Brandon McNulty is also a really nice card seeing how well he's ridden last year, Thomas de Gendt, Bruno Armirail, Bob Jungels alongside some other rouleurs can also surprise tomorrow.
Prediction Time
⭐ Cavagna, Matthews, McNulty, de Gendt, Armirail, Durbridge, Jungels
I'm going with Victor Campenaerts to take the win he has so wholeheartedly been fighting for. His last win came in the Belgium Tour of 2019 and that really doesn't reflect his quality, he's very consistent and he is in great form.
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