Greig Leach

Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) looks under his arm to check on his teammate Mathieu Van Der Poel. The pair have been out in front of the entire peloton for 160 kilometers thus far. The pair have held a lead as high as five-and-a-half minutes, but with just eleven kilometers left to Chateauroux they still had a minute and six seconds on the closing teams of the sprinters. The rule of thumb is that the peloton can pull back a minute over every ten kilometers. That translate to it being really touch-and-go that this pair will be able to stay away to the line. All along the course today, the sunflowers have been turning their faces to watch the Tour go by (as long as the riders were on the sunny side of the fields).