“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Stage 7 of the Tour de France is set to be a Breton classic.
The hilly profile will sap the peloton鈥檚 legs before a big bust-up on the notorious M没r de Bretagne.
The stage loops over the M没r two times in the final 20km in a rehash of the course used when Le Tour last finished here in 2021. Mathieu van der Poel won that stage ahead of Tadej Poga膷ar and Primo啪 Rogli膷 with a sensational 800-meter surge for the line that moved him into the maillot jaune.
MVDP鈥檚 emotional 2021 victory proved the M没r is a test of poise and patience as much as outright power. The grinding 2km climb isn鈥檛 hard enough to simply rely on riding rivals out of the wheels. Only a laser-guided watt-bomb works here.
Will Van der Poel, Rogla, and Pogi resume their 2021 鈥淏attle of Bretagne??
Here鈥檚 hoping.
