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On the eve of the stage Arras-Roubaix which promises to be one of the most terrible for all the runners, each formation prepares its plan of defense (or of attack?) To avoid the better possible to their leaders to waste time even the Tour at the end of the 15 paved sectors proposed. Even for the favorites at the stage victory ( Sagan, Van Avermaet, Terpstra and others), they will have a role to play also to protect their leader in the general standings, whether Majka, Porte, Jungels, Froome, Bardet … On the staff side, the sports directors are divided on how to approach the pavement, but also on the justification of their presence or not on the Tour de France .
Tour de France 2018 – Nicolas Portal on the cobbles
Matteo Tosatto sports director at Sky and 7th in Paris-Roubaix in 2012, has a very strong position nuanced on the subject, as stated on CyclingWeekly: "The good thing is that the weather is good.The difference is that there are riders here who have never run on the pavement. All teams are ready, everyone has recognized the stage, we are ready, we have a strong team for that, Chris Froome is pleased that the pavement is in the race. He says he can even get better than his rivals, but it's also a matter of luck, not to give in at the wrong time or to crack. " But from his own point of view, the former runner of the Tinkoff showed his disagreement with the insertion of stages like that of Roubaix on a race of three weeks: " I say no They [les organisateurs] say that a complete runner should win the Round but it is really difficult for the runners. This is a But you can crash on normal stages, but on the pavement you have more chances to crash. "
Position shared in part by his colleague Servais Knaven winner of the Northern Hell in 2001: " I think it's okay at some point, we're in France, how many pavers were there in the Tour in the early 1900s? part of France, the history of cycling, maybe it should be part of the Tour every year, so that the rider They would not be so nervous and get used to it. The stage will be totally different from Paris-Roubaix at only 22 kilometers, where Paris-Roubaix is almost tripled. The tactics will be different. The riders who will defend the general clbadification will try to keep a small group and the others will try to divide it. "
On the contrary John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo ), winner of Paris-Roubaix in 2015, appreciates this tangle of varied difficulties: " It's good to have this combination of everything, for me, but also for cycling in general, to have a good variation. We also have to undergo all these climbs together, climbing stages of 65 kilometers, so let's also have some paving stones. " The German then added about the next stage:" A paved step Tour is very different from that of Roubaix, it is much more nervous. Roubaix is already nervous, but here everyone is really afraid of wasting time in the GC and obviously it makes him much more dangerous than usual. "
On the planned animation on the roads of the North, the sports director of the Bahrain-Merida Brent Copeland is not as enthusiastic as the organizers: " It will be very different, the main Priority of most teams will be to heal the riders of the overall standings. Runners who are normally on the attack in the day races will protect their leaders. So I do not think it's an aggressive race as you normally see it. If one of the runners of the general feels good, he could put a hammer and see what happens. Nibali does not care, but he still needs luck on his side that day. " Indeed, if Nibali had knocked out the Tour de France in 2014 thanks to a stage carried out in a dantesque weather and arriving at Arenberg Porte du Hainaut the pbadage of the Tour on the cobblestones in 2015 had cracked no major leader, except Thibaut Pinot on mechanical problem Will the favorable conditions this year block the race Answer Sunday at 4 pm
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