After two hot, hard opening stages of the 2024 Tour de France, the sprinters 'finally' get their chance at glory on Monday's third stage to Turin.
Only 10 hours of racing have passed since the 176 starters rolled out in Florence to kick off the Grand Tour, but the opening weekend might have felt like a lifetime for some of the fastest men in the gruppo.
The likes of Jasper Philipsen, Mark Cavendish, Fabio Jakobsen, and Fernando Gaviria certainly haven't been the quickest over the hilly terrain that has characterised the 305km of racing so far, with time gaps in the region of an hour already separating them from the top of the general classification.
The sprint superstars have all wilted racing through the 35°C heat over 13 classified climbs of the Apennines thus far. The overwhelmingly flat run north – and temperatures dipping into the mid-20s – on Monday will provide a welcome respite, even if the stage still reaches a lengthy 231km.
Cavendish, the brightest star among the sprint corps even if Philipsen last summer proved himself the quickest sprinter in the world, was the most prominent casualty during Saturday's opening stage.
Of course, with 34 stage wins to his name and a possible record-breaking 35th on the way, the TV cameras were on hand to capture his struggle – and his vomiting. "I was seeing stars. It was so hard," he said later.
On Sunday morning ahead of stage 3, his Astana directeur sportif Mark Renshaw explained that the situation wasn't as dire as it might have looked on TV.
"We knew it was always going to be hard and, as Cav mentioned, we have all the power profiles and estimations that AI and everything can give us," Renshaw said. "But adaptation to the heat is individual for the riders.
"It's so hot, there's so much fluid intake, and [Cavendish] went a little bit in the red on the first long climb. As he said, he would've liked to have hung on for longer, but it went to plan.
"We were always two minutes inside the predictions for power and time, and as long as you keep going – without illness – there's no problem. It doesn't look good on TV with the whole team back there chopping off, but in reality, it was a little bit slower than even we predicted."
In the end, Cavendish, his Astana teammates, and Jakobsen finished 39 minutes down as other sprinters – including Philipsen, Gaviria, Dylan Groenewegen, and Biniam Girmay – finished around 10 minutes up the road.
Sunday's stage 2 to Bologna brought more heat, hills, and hardships, with the fastmen coming in 20 minutes down or more. But now, provided they haven't suffered too badly, the battle for sprint stage glory and the green jersey begins.
The man headlining the fight for the latter is, of course, Philipsen, the reigning champion and a man who won four stages last summer. The Belgian proved himself as the fastest sprinter in the world at last year's Tour and his all-star lead-out man Mathieu van der Poel also showed that Alpecin-Deceuninck have the best lead-out in the business. Look for them to start 2024's sprints with a bang on the Corso Galileo Ferraris.
The other headliner is Cavendish, the 39-year-old reunited with Michael Mørkøv in search of win number 35. As Belgium will dissect Philipsen's sprinting and results, Britain will be doing the same for Cavendish.
He's tasted victory in Turin before – well, in nearby Rivoli – at the 2022 Milano-Torino. Over two years later, that result will have little bearing on Monday's, though digging through a list of his career win locations demonstrates the breadth of his palmarès across the years.
It remains to be seen whether he, with over 17 years of professional racing in his legs, will be immediately up to speed off the back of two gruelling days out, or if he's aiming to grow into the race and hit top speed later on as one of the other sprint stages – with eight to nine expected – unfolds. Whichever is the case, Cavendish will be closely watched, both inside and outside the peloton, and his race will be analysed over and over.
Beyond the two biggest draws, there are plenty of contenders worth considering, from the in-form Belgian champion Arnaud De Lie to Dutchmen Jakobsen and Groenewegen, another top green jersey contender is Mads Pedersen, and former top contenders including Gaviria, Sam Bennett, Pascal Ackermann, and Arnaud Démare.
"Everything is in place," Renshaw said of his team's plans – and no doubt those of the names listed above – ahead of stage 3.
"I know how the climbers say that the Tour starts in the third week but tomorrow the Tour starts for us, which is exciting."
Stage 3 trivia
- 20 years ago, four Italian teams (Saeco, Fassa Bortolo, Domina Vacanze, and Alessio-Bianchi) and 30 Italian riders took on the Tour de France. This year their number is zero (0) and there are not even enough riders to fill out one squad – just seven.
Matteo Sobrero is the day's local man as the race passes through his hometown of Alba 167km in. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider is making his Tour debut in aid of GC contender Primož Roglič. - On the Tour a decade ago, Marcel Kittel won stage 3, the final leg of a British Grand Départ, in London. The retired Peter Sagan and Mark Renshaw filled out the stage podium, though several of the names further down the top 15 – Kristoff, Démare, Danny van Poppel, and Bryan Coquard – will be in action this time around.
- Three meagre fourth-category classified climbs are dotted throughout the long stage, though the hillock at 70.8km is more notable than the rest. It's named for Italian cycling legend and two-time Tour champion Fausto Coppi as the race passes through the town he called home, Tortona.
- The stage marks the debut test of the modified 3km rule, which will see GC times instead taken 5km from the finish in a bid to improve rider safety with fewer rider jostling for position at the head of the peloton on the final run to the line.
Stage 3 sprints
- Intermediate sprint at Alessandria, km 94.3
Stage 3 mountains
- Côte de Tortone - Fausto Coppi (1.1km at 6.3%), cat. 4, km 70.8
- Côte de Barbaresco (1.5km at 6.5%), cat. 4, km 156.1
- Côte de Sommariva Perno (3.1km at 4.6%), cat. 4, km 181.4
