The dormant volcano has not awakened. The decor was majestic. Not the script. And the Tour remained unsatisfied. For months, the peloton had seen the Puy-de-Dôme from afar. The spiral (absent from the Tour route since 1988) which would make you dizzy, circled around in the discussions.
The day disappointed. The peloton, which had become accustomed to keeping the breakaways on a leash, dozed off and gave up the stage victory. The Canadian Michael Woods, after a wild effort, won the best victory of his career but behind his back the battle of the leaders did not, unlike what happened in Laruns (5th stage ) and Cauterets-Cambasque (6th stage), aroused emotion.
The standoff triggered 1.4 km from the finish, far from the celebration of Woods, the Sunday millionaire, came too late. Tadej Pogacar, on the eve of the first day of rest in Clermont-Ferrand, nibbled away 8 seconds from Jonas Vingegaard, the yellow jersey. After 9 stages, the duo separated by 17 seconds, cleaned up. The opportunity was nevertheless a good one to breathe life into the explanation. He missed.
The absence of spectators in the last four kilometers, an essential condition for the passage of the Grande Boucle in a sensitive and protected site, may have blurred the landmarks, missed the time to boil the cauldron of the ascent. The Tour has however already known these passages (laces de Montvernier or la Casse déserte in Izoard) “to give back the mountain to the runners”, as Christian Prudhomme likes to remind us.
On the strength of experience and desire, the Tour will return to the slopes of Puy-de-Dôme. The scenario of the stage will perhaps give it the echo that the atypical place deserves. The Tour left the scene on tiptoe. Happy with the detour, frustrated by the episode, convinced that everything was in place to rise to the height of the legend…