Feet in the void, dilated and distant horizon, blue reliefs at the base of a cloudless sky: 5 kilometers from the top of the Col de la Lusette, the cloud is thick with spectators. A trumpet kicks. Olé answer him. A pope blesses the peloton. A lewd poster invites itself. Mont Aigoual, in the Cévennes national park, gives the most striking popular image of this Tour de France from the black signs in Nice which prohibited spectators from view. In this climb, 34 kilometers long including its access ramps, the Tour under Covid is forgotten, the masks sometimes fall, the peloton no longer sees the gendarmes but thousands of supporters. On the Espérou side (kilometer 182), the giant screen and the merguez office, neglected for a time to avoid crowds, are out. The laces of the first passes of the Grande Boucle, in the middle country of Nice, and even those of Orcières-Merlette on Tuesday seem confined to another time. The resinous smell of fir trees takes a long time to forget.
At the top of Mont Aigoual (1,560 meters), for the private shot of spectators, the Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) wins solo, after having outdistanced his seven breakaway companions. In the general classification, the Englishman Adam Yates (Mitchelton Scott) remains in yellow ahead of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and his compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Emirates). The first Frenchman, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), is fourth, at nine seconds. Lutsenko comments: “I knew the Col de la Lusette very well. I knew that 80% of the way up it was the steepest section. This is where I gave everything. ” The yellow Adam Yates jersey: “We managed to control during this stage. But it was a very, very strong breakaway, with big names. You shouldn’t let them go too far. Friday [entre Millau et Lavaur, ndlr], it is an interesting step. It should be pretty easy, but my fingers are crossed. ”
Throughout the day, colors usually indelible on the Tour but swallowed up this year in the sanitary context, Belgian yellow, red and black, Dutch red, blue and white, once again flutter in the wind. The Ardèche seemed like a breath of fresh air on Wednesday: the peloton left it with a man stretched out his whole stomach on a deckchair, tanned skin half naked, sunglasses on his forehead and a book under his nose. The Gard reserves the same welcome, crowded streets and warm cheers in Alès (kilometer 88). Is it really a September stage? The village of Sumène (kilometer 142) offers the peloton the sweet onions of the Cévennes, laces to hundreds of people gathered and tiny roads. At the top of Mont Aigoual, stands the last inhabited mountain weather station in France. In the Cévennes, the Tour has regained the temperatures it knows.
Romain Boulho Special Envoy on the Tour route
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