Rolling report on the 200km stage from Mâcon to Saint-ÉtienneGroenewegen sprints to win as Brailsford cools Bernal hypeEmail Tom with your thoughts on the stage or find him on Twitter 11.54am BST De Marchi has now joined De Gendt, Terpstra and King at the front. The four-man break has around 3:55 on the peloton. 11.52am BST How fast do you need to ride to get in the break? Well today it was around 47km/h:The three early attackers work well together to quickly open a gap over 3 minutes. De Marchi (CCC) is chasing 400m behind them after 19km.#TDF2019 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/iWW15xfUA9 11.45am BST I think it is safe to say that with the gap growing to more than two minutes that this trio will be allowed to stay away, at least for the time being. De Marchi is still in pursuit, around 35 second back, and as the break continues to gain time De Gendt, Terpstra and King could let the Italian join, but it is not happening quickly though. 11.35am BST CCC’s Alessandro De Marchi is now after the trio up the road after Würtz failed to bridge. Early stages but the time gap continues to grow. 11.32am BST We have a trio of breakaway riders. Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Énergie) and Ben King (Dimension Data) have gone off front, with Katusha’s Mads Würtz in pursuit. They have about 30 seconds on the peloton at the moment with CCC on the front weighing up whether to try and put the effort in to bring them back. 11.22am BST In case you did not know, it is Bastille Day tomorrow: ?? ?? You never get enough of it. On ne s'en lasse pas. #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/rbQIVKovuP 11.18am BST A quick update, Tejay van Garderen is out of the Tour. The EF Education First rider was not considered a GC contender but his absence will not help Rigoberto Urán in the Colombian’s bid for yellow. The American broke his hand in an early crash on Friday and has been forced to abandon. 11.14am BST And we’re off. kind of. The flag drops to signal the end of the neutral zone at around 7km, there is an early sprint so we could well have action from the gun. 11.11am BST The countdown is on at the start line. The jerseys are all placed at the front, riders are twitchily checking their tyres and streets are packed. Time for the rollout. 11.41pm BST Related: Groenewegen sprints to Tour stage win as Brailsford cools Bernal hype Continue readingread full article
