Tour de la Provence 2023 – Prologue

A short prologue in Marseille.

Route

4860 meters.

One u-turn when they are halfway through (or there about)…

Weather

We race from 13:55 – 15:50. There is no current start order. Looks sunny for everyone and not a lot of wind. It will however change from SE to SW (according to DMI.dk, Yr.no and MeteoFrance). For some it is a constant crosswind, for others a tailwind out and a crosswind home. I used MyWindSock to look into it and we are talking 1-3 seconds with a virtual athlete.

Everyone has the same conditions.

Contenders

Pedersen – starts as the man to beat.

Armirail – not a lot of good results to his name when it comes to prologues. He will be happy with a spot on the podium.

Zingle – I have high hopes for him. We will see a glimpse of how well he recovered from the crash in the season opener. A top-10 would be a good result.

Jakob Söderqvist – a Swede? A young man for Trek. One must imagine the change from club cycling to the WT makes a rider go just a bit faster. I look forward to seeing him against the clock.

Gautherat – I base this on his win at Course de la Paix Grand Prix Jeseníky. The stacked junior race often gives you a sense whether they youngsters are the real deal or not. I think this man will do brilliantly at pro level.

Kirsch – 3rd and final Lidl-Trek man. In this field, he can podium.

Who will win?

I’m sorry for being boring, but Mads Pedersen is on another level than the rest.