The second of this weekend’s sprint stages awaited the peloton on Sunday afternoon, however the road to Châteauroux was exposed and there was a threat of crosswinds for the final 60 kilometres of racing. It was a peculiar start to the day with Van der Poel and Rickaert attacking from the flag drop and the peloton allowing their advantage to grow to over five minutes.
The strong attacking duo made it tough for the bunch, especially with a cross-tailwind for a lot of the stage. There was a brief split in the bunch at around 65 kilometres to go, just as Oscar Onley was making his way back after a wheel change. However, Team Picnic PostNL stayed calm and through some good teamwork they returned to the first part of the peloton a few kilometres later once the road became more sheltered.
It was a nervous final 50 kilometres as teams stepped on the gas, then slowed again in the more covered sections; either in a battle to try and split things or to also close down the leading duo. All of Team Picnic PostNL made it into the front split when the main crosswind section took place, before things split a bit further once more.
However, despite some attempts from other teams, the race didn’t splinter into pieces so coming into Châteauroux the race headed for a bunch sprint; after a late catch of Van der Poel was made. Tobias Lund Andresen brought fast finisher Pavel Bittner, who had crashed earlier in the stage, forward expertly in the last two kilometres and dropped him off on the wheel of Milan going under the flamme rouge. Bittner then followed Milan all the way to the line, delivering a good kick to take a strong fourth place on the stage; and another strong result for Team Picnic PostNL at the Tour de France.
Bittner reflected: “Today we had our Sunday chance of sprinting and I was going to be our finisher. I was really excited for it but it was a nervous day from the start. All day everyone was on the limit with positioning. I think we were really sharp and the whole time the guys did an amazing job coming into the crucial turns where it split for good. Coming into the final I had Tobi with me, and Oscar was there too after being protected by the guys, which was good. I had a bit of a small crash today but I forgot about it in the final as it was nothing too major. In the final I stuck with Tobi and he dropped me off in the wheel of Milan which was perfect. I was hoping that maybe I could peek out of the side and kick on, but I could only stay in the wheel. In the end I think fourth place on a finish like this is quite a nice result for us.”
Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It was a super hectic day but I think the team did really good. We had a small crash early in the stage with Pavel and Tim, but they could come back okay. Then Oscar punctured at a difficult moment as we went towards the crosswinds and directly he had the guys with him and they brought him back into the peloton in a good way after it had split. From there, it was a real washing machine in the front. The guys always had the intention to find each other which was good. I think Tobi did a fantastic job there in the final. He had Pavel in a good position, and kept him nice and calm. With Pavel sprinting to fourth place in the end, it is a nice team result and one we can be happy with.”