At kilometer 0, Gougeard opened the debates. Immediately a leading group of 18 riders was formed, with some excellent names for the stage victory in the now classic transition stage to Mende. The price situation was fixed for the next few hours, or so it seemed.
However, that was not counted for Pogacar. The white jersey threw a splinter bomb at 183 km from the finish line. Jumbo-Visma was taken cold by the attack. The team of yellow jersey Vingegaard was halved, while the race exploded. What followed was an exhausting fight to set up a new flight.
That only worked on the spur of the second slope of the day. A similar flight departed there, this time with 23 riders. He received the blessing of the peloton, which let the front runners drive away in the heat for almost 14 minutes. In the background, Ewan had been confused for a while. Three Lotto teammates had to wait for the battered sprinter.
Up front, Matthews didn’t feel like waiting. He dynamited the leading group very early and after some skirmishes got Kron, Sanchez and Grossschartner along. The first one disappeared after a flat tire, on a fresh strip of asphalt. Bad luck.
On the monstrously steep Montée Jalabert in Mende, Matthews threw the other two overboard. Still, his efforts didn’t seem to yield a stage win. Bettiol came back from the background with broad strokes and went over and over. However, Matthews used all his willpower and stormed past the stunned Italian in turn.
More than ten minutes after the stage winner’s number, the favorites mounted the climb to Mende airport. Pogacar went like a rocket, but couldn’t shake off an icy calm Vingegaard. The white and yellow jerseys did gain some seconds over the other classification men.
