STAGE 7 OF 21Friday 10 July

Hagetmau → Bordeaux

Flat175.1 KMSPRINT FINISH LIKELY

A flat, fast run north to Bordeaux — a city that has hosted more bunch sprints than almost anywhere on the route. The fast men get their second clear chance of the Tour.

THE TACTICAL READ

WHO IT SUITS

The sprinters. Bordeaux has hosted more bunch finishes than almost anywhere on the route, and for good reason.

WHAT TO WATCH

A nervous, fast run-in and the lead-out trains jockeying for the final kilometre. Crash risk is high while everyone still believes they can win.

ROADMAN PREDICTION

A straightforward bunch sprint. The form sprinter of the first week confirms it on a finish that rarely springs a surprise.

THE ROADMAN TAKE

WHAT THIS STAGE DEMANDS

Flat stages are where recovery between hard days is won or lost. For the amateur chasing a multi-day event or a big sportive, the skill is riding easy genuinely easy — true zone 2, not grey-zone tempo that quietly digs a hole you pay for tomorrow.

WHAT STEPHEN SEILER WOULD PUSH

The discipline of keeping easy days easy is the foundation of the polarised model — the bunch soft-pedals for hours precisely so the hard efforts later in the race can be truly hard.

TRAIN FOR IT

The Roadman content that builds what Stage 7 asks for.

The grey-zone trap→Active recovery rides done right→Heart Rate Zone Calculator→

← STAGE 6

Pau → Gavarnie-Gèdre

STAGE 8 →

Périgueux → Bergerac

← ALL 21 STAGES