Topklasse Vrouwen

And this will play into the hands of Pedersen and his fellow escapees, whose advantage is up to one minute over the pack. There’s a chase group of five riders, though, which formed after Ben Healy put in yet another dig.

In the chaser group are: Ben Healy (EF), Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Jan Tratnik (Red Bull), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar).

And Valentin Paret-Peintre, his polka dot jersey rival, is straight on his wheel. The leaders are over that small hill and still have 34 seconds to play with as Pedersen takes up the pacing on the short descent to the valley road. There’s a long way to go to the intermediate sprint – the best part of 65km and two categorised climbs – but Pedersen is doing his utmost best to consolidate his lead in the green jersey standings, with his rival Jasper Philipsen dropped from the pack on the first climb.

So, we have an eight-man move now with 40 seconds on the chasing pack. Will today be the day the hosts finally get a win? The last time we have had a Tour without a French stage winner was in 1999. Before that it was 1926 – and never before then…

The French national champion from Groupama-FDJ is riding between the break and the front of the pack, trailing the seven leaders by 20 seconds but leading the others by the same margin. They’re approaching the end of this descent and the break will soon start a short unclassified lump before the valley road to the foot of the next climb.