Gap, the starting point of the fifth stage of the Tour, is the city that Joseba Beloki did not reach in 2003. The Alava runner fell into a curve of soft tar and was never the same again. Gap is a common bend in the history of the Tour. In 1959 he experienced a sprint resolved by millimeters between Nencini, Anquetil and Geminiani. Echoes of the Grande Boucle.
After leaving Gap, the goal awaits in Privas. The day descends, he hardly has any difficulties, but ends in an ascending section, ideal for sprinters with power. That fuels the hopes of riders like Van Avermaet, Sagan and even Alaphilippe, who don’t have as much reprisal as Bennett, Nizzolo and, above all, Caleb Ewan, the winner of the last sprint of this Tour. The small Australian rocket also knows how to win on slopes and even on walls.
Ewan is a complete sprinter. His first flash came in the 2015 Vuelta a España. I was 21 years old. She won on the steep Duquesa de Talavera street, in Alcalá de Guadaira. Ufff. Too hard. When I saw the slope I took it for granted that Sagan or Degenkolb would win, ”he said that day. He came from the velodrome school, so horizontal, and he didn’t have any options. It was not yet known. She beat them.
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