TDF 2021: Stage 4, Redon > Fougères 150.4 km **Spoilers**

blazing_saddles
blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
in Pro race

Stage 4, Redon > Fougères 150.4 km

29-6-2021
Start 12-25pm

This stage journeys through Argoat, the beautiful inland Brittany entirely set in the Gallo country and going from one side to the other of the Ille-et-Vilaine area. The last time the race ended in Fougeres was in 2015 with Mark Cavendish taking the stage. It’s an identical finish this time around.



This is another opportunity for the sprinters, as the short route covers virtually flat terrain. There are no categorised climbs between the start in Redon and the finish in picturesque Fougères.



A bunch sprint is the most likely outcome in the 4th stage of the Tour de France. The winner of the stage will also receive 50 points towards the green jersey competition, along with the now standard 10 second time bonus.

Final kilometres





Favourites stage 4 Tour de France 2021

***** Tim Merlier,
**** Arnaud Démare, Mark Cavendish
*** Wout van Aert, Cees Bol, Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen
** Christophe Laporte, Nacer Bouhanni, Danny van Poppel, Peter Sagan
* André Greipel, Niccolò Bonifazio, Max Walscheid, Michael Matthews, Sonny Colbrelli


Redon

Stage town for the 2nd time
Population: 9,000

Redon owes its importance to the development of a once very influential Benedictine abbey: it dates back to 832. The town enjoys a strategic position, at the crossroads of the two most important rivers in Brittany: the Vilaine and the Oust.
The first time the Tour de France came through Redon, it was the American Tyler Farrar who won the sprint.
Redon-Redon celebrated its 52nd anniversary in 2011, the year when it became fully open to professionals. In the past, the race has seen riders as varied as Thierry Marie (2nd in 1984), Alexandre Vinokourov (best climber in 1997), Pavel Tonkov and more recently, Simon Gerrans, winner of the 2004 edition.



Redon chestnut

The "de Redon" chestnut includes several varieties of chestnuts and marrons selected for their size and good taste. The production area is concentrated in a radius of about thirty kilometres around Redon. These chestnuts can be used as a delicate garnish for poultry or a number of specialities prepared by chefs (poultry terrine with chestnuts) or pastry chefs (shortbread filled with chestnut cream). At home, they are eaten as a soup, or simply boiled and drizzled with ribot milk. But connoisseurs prefer them roasted, with a piece of butter and a bowl of cider!



On the road

Km 114
Vitré (Pop: 18,000)
Listed as one of the most beautiful detours in France. Built around its castle, Vitré experienced a brilliant development from the 14th century onwards, based mainly on the international trade in hemp cloth (or canvas)



Fougères

Stage town for the 5th time
Population: 20,500

On the borders of Lower Normandy, Brittany and the Pays de Loire, lies Fougères, a town with a rich historical heritage. Ideally located 30 minutes from Rennes and Mont-Saint-Michel, the medieval town allows its visitors to cross the centuries in a day, as the monuments that make up the town are still witnesses to over a thousand years of history. Fougères boasts the largest medieval fortress in Europe.



The finish of a 73-kilometre team time trial was held in Fougères during the 1985 Tour. Bernard Hinault and his La Vie Claire team put on an impressive show of strength. Closer to now, in 2013, the town and its imposing castle hosted the start of a stage that took the peloton to Tours and, in 2015, a finish that saw Mark Cavendish's only victory that year. In 2018, it was Dutch rider Dylan Groenewegen who won the sprint in Fougères ahead of Fernando Gaviria and Peter Sagan.



Sougéal goose or Couesnon goose
Sougéal, a small town in the Fougères region, is famous for its Goose Festival and for this local breed of goose, which is raised on 300 hectares of marshland fed by the Couesnon.
These geese feed exclusively on grass. Two or three weeks before slaughter, they leave the marshes to be fattened on grain. The small goose from Sougéal, with its white plumage, is slaughtered when it is about six months old and weighs between 3 and 4 kilos. It has a firm flesh that can be used for roasts, stews, casseroles, rillettes etc. The geese of Brittany were among the great gastronomic products of the region in the 19th century and Sougéal maintains this tradition, which is being lost.





"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments

  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,340
    Well you were right when you said you might have to rejig the star ratings on the back of Stage 3...
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    Upstart!

    https://www.geologist.nl/stage-1-brest-landerneau/
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    Redon. I know one thing about Redon, it's twinned with Andover in Hampshire.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,575
    I wonder what naming convention the good burghers of Redon used for their 60s overspill housing estates? Philosophers Way? Impressionists Way?
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,692
    Andover?

    Redon. I know one thing about Redon, it's twinned with Andover in Hampshire.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,692
    Sorry.*





    Not sorry



    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    No_Ta_Doctor said:

    Andover?

    Redon. I know one thing about Redon, it's twinned with Andover in Hampshire.


    Correlation is not causation.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,262
    edited June 2021
    What odds can I get on Silvan Dillier ending up in a ditch?


    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,593
    RichN95. said:

    What odds can I get on Silvan Dillier ending up in a ditch?


    Thought for a minute then that things had got so bad they were having medics riding in the peloton then realised the colours were backwards.
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,340
    Crashing out unexpectedly's becoming quite the trend this week...
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    RichN95. said:

    What odds can I get on Silvan Dillier ending up in a ditch?


    10 to Zulle
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Thought Brouhahani might have got another star for 1 advanced driver training in the last km and 2 keeping a lid on it
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    specialgueststar said:

    Thought Brouhahani might have got another star for 1 advanced driver training in the last km and 2 keeping a lid on it

    After yesterday, I did think of bumping him up a star. Definitely a 3 star effort.

    I will certainly be upping his future grades if he goes well today.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Ramp up makes it a bit of a power sprint, no?
    _
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    Finish is outside the school on the left - definitely a drag to the finish. Anyone who goes early probably loses (unless their surname starts with van).

    https://www.google.com/maps/@48.3414311,-1.1958532,3a,75y,356.9h,72.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWimD71PvXmr5QRHPxPOWfw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
  • neonriver
    neonriver Posts: 228
    Same finish as 2015 I think that was
    Cavendish
    Greipel
    Sagan
    Degenkolb
    Kristoff
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    neonriver said:

    Same finish as 2015 I think that was
    Cavendish
    Greipel
    Sagan
    Degenkolb
    Kristoff

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efCP6TCJtpQ

    Greipel went with 200m to go, and Cavendish sprinted from off his wheel in the last 100m.
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    edited June 2021
    Coquard must be looking for something to get his name back up there ..
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,340
    edited June 2021
    kingstongraham said:

    neonriver said:


    Greipel went with 200m to go, and Cavendish sprinted from off his wheel in the last 100m.

    Backs up what's being suggested about the gradient making it a sprint where patience pays off. It's roughly 2-3% looking at the profile - 15m in 500m or so - is that enough to really change the type of sprinter who does well?

    Edit - 4% over 250m right at the end, as per Inrng
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    edited June 2021
    Lanterne_Rogue said:

    kingstongraham said:


    Greipel went with 200m to go, and Cavendish sprinted from off his wheel in the last 100m.

    Backs up what's being suggested about the gradient making it a sprint where patience pays off. It's roughly 2-3% looking at the profile - 15m in 500m or so - is that enough to really change the type of sprinter who does well?

    Edit - 4% over 250m right at the end, as per Inrng
    No, but means they should go late.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,227
    Bloody hell
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,717
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,912
    ddraver said:

    That's a shocking cycle tan I agree ..... Simply horrible
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,340
    Fair play to Ewan.

    Meanwhile, I was going to suggest that we've got Business Orla today, as if she's decided that today might be the day that they get to cover something very important (eg Cavendish) but then I've seen she's still in trainers. Good for her.

    (incidentally, watching her on Eurosport has really driven home how most people on TV are constrained to a very fixed 'look' - I can't think of anyone else who changes the way they style their hair or their clothes choice quite so radically on a daily basis, and I think it's pretty cool she feels able to do that)
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,340
    As for that pic of Roglic, the last time I saw someone cycling whilst wearing that number of bandages they were pursuing Scooby Doo.
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,833
    ddraver said:

    Didn't Lady Gaga wear am outfit like that once?
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    I really did not need to see that picture of Roglic.
    Correlation is not causation.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,912
    I will laugh if they crash in the neutralised racing
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,912
    It's the stress
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm

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