Tour de France 2022: Cobbles on Stage 5 will be pivotal to General Classification hopes, says Robbie McEwen

ByBen Snowball

Published 04/07/2022 at 08:32 GMT

After the main GC candidates survived the Grand Depart in Denmark – aside from the odd scrape and an elusive gilet – Robbie McEwen is predicting the yellow jersey battle to burst into life when the Tour de France hits the French terrain. The Australian says two stages stand out in the coming days: Stage 5 (aka the Roubaix stage) and Stage 7 (up the ominous Planches des Belles Filles).

Surviving the cobbles on Stage 5 will be “pivotal” for those hunting the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, according to 12-time stage winner Robbie McEwen, who predicts misery for some GC hopefuls.

While it will not throw up the same drama as cobbled classic Paris-Roubaix – the stage finishes in Arenberg but without first visiting its famous trench – Wednesday’s stage still promises drama and incident as 11 sections of pavé await.

In total, around 20km of cobbles must be navigated by the peloton with punctures and crashes a near-certainty.

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Those hoping to dislodge two-time champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) know this is an opportunity to attack – although only a handful of riders will feel comfortable on the terrain, including cyclo-cross stars Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).

“The Roubaix stage, as we'll call it, is going to be pivotal to so many riders with GC hopes,” said Eurosport expert McEwen.

“And we see it every time that the race has gone to the cobbles it's counted a number of guys out of contention. For GC, they're losing two, three, five, seven minutes in one day, through crashes, punctures. Just being behind a split and never getting back.

“It creates so much tension and nervousness in the bunch. I think it's obvious it's going to split and some riders are going to lose time.

“Again, I hope people's races aren't decided by crashes. Obviously it's going to be dangerous. And it will end some people's hopes.”

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McEwen also predicted Friday’s Stage 7 will shake-up the GC picture, with the Tour returning to La Planches des Belles Filles.

The two pre-race favourites, Pogacar and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), will need no reminder of what can happen here. On the final competitive stage in 2020, Roglic saw the yellow jersey snatched from his shoulders by his fellow Slovenian on the iconic climb in one of the biggest twists in recent Tour memory.

It is the first summit finish of this year’s Tour which includes an additional unpaved double-digit ramp.

“The first proper mountain stage of the Tour is La Planches des Belles. It’s really tough,” said McEwen.

“And then the final part up to the finish, OK, it might only be seconds between the favourites, but it already gives you a really good indication of who the best ones are after a week of racing.”

Van Aert holds the yellow jersey heading into the first rest day on Monday as the Tour moves from Denmark to France, with Pogacar the best-placed of the GC favourites in third at 14”. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma, +22”), Roglic (+23”) and Geraint Thomas (+32”) are all nicely positioned heading into the first full week.

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