Greig Leach

There are certain constants in the Tour de France. One of those is that you will find Tim Declercq (Soudal-Quick Step) on the front of the peloton chasing down a break away most every flat to semi-flat stage of teh Tour. Not today. Today it was 'the tractor' off the front with two companions. Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) must have been thrilled to have the man usually responsible for killing their break away dreams, helping them to have a chance to fulfill them. As they headed up the Cat 3 climb of the day, the Cote de Champs Romain, they had almost five minutes on the peloton. It is still a stage marked down as on for the sprinters, so their chances of success are slim. But with Declercq, they are a little less slim than they would have been otherwise.