Wednesday 23: 13:35โ13:50 โ 17:10โ17:30
We are going up the Rhone valley, for what is normally a sprinter stage (a short sprinter stage). However the course is not direct, a few hills were added, and tired sprinters like Milan seem to have been struggling a lot even on flat-ish sections during the last few days. So, who knows if a large group cannot get away again? Last chance before 2 days of pure mountain, for sprinters and flat/flat-ish breakaways specialists.
I found neither Visma nor UAE teams very strong on this Tour; and lieutenants are out of shape (Jorgenson, Kuss) or simply out (Almeida), therefore out of the equation. Therefore, it resolves to 1 leader vs 1 leader. And as you say, since Pogatchar always manages to stick to Vingegaard, no sophisticated tactics can do a thing about it.