{"id":636141,"date":"2026-06-13T05:27:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/636141\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T05:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T05:27:16","slug":"the-fireworks-for-the-gc-will-definitely-start-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/636141\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe fireworks for the GC will definitely start tomorrow\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, as we said this morning, it was a bit calmer, a bit less stressful,\u201d said Baudin. \u201cThe team did a great job again at the end to position me, so everything went well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baudin expects GC battle to ignite<\/p>\n

Baudin has led the race since winning the opening stage from the break, but stage 6 will take him back towards familiar terrain. The route passes through Albertville before finishing at Crest-Voland, where his narrow lead will face a very different test.<\/p>\n

The EF Education-EasyPost<\/a> rider did not hide the fatigue building after five days in yellow. \u201cA little bit tired,\u201d he said. \u201cThe legs are a bit hard. They are not the best sensations I have had these last few days, but I think today will also have helped me recover a little. It was not very, very hard, so I hope to have legs of fire tomorrow to defend this jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final climb gives him some encouragement. Baudin described it as an effort that should suit him if his legs respond, with the decisive section expected to last under 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, for sure,\u201d he said when asked about trying to defend yellow against Vauquelin. \u201cThe final climb is not very long, so it is still the kind of effort I like. It will be less than 20 minutes. So if I have good legs, there is a way to keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baudin does not expect the race to split apart completely at the first mountain test, but he knows the fight for yellow is entering a new phase. \u201cI think tomorrow there will not be huge gaps between the favourites,\u201d he said. \u201cAs I said, the final climb is not super long, but the fireworks for the GC will definitely start tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Alex Baudin at the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes<\/p>\n

Crest-Voland brings yellow onto familiar ground<\/p>\n

The next stage brings an extra pull for Baudin. \u201cAt home,\u201d he said when asked about defending yellow on familiar roads. \u201cWe go through Albertville and the finish at Crest-Voland, I know it well. So I\u2019m going to give everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baudin said he was not yet sure whether his whole family would be roadside because some of them would still be working, but he expected support along the route. The final climb is already fixed clearly in his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I know it well,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not very long, but it is still straight and quite steep for a while. So I will have to suffer as much as possible for 15 or 20 minutes and see the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baudin has already carried yellow through a long breakaway stage, a team time trial and a controlled sprint day. Crest-Voland brings Vauquelin, Onley, Jorgenson and the rest of the GC contenders onto terrain where 12 seconds can disappear quickly.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYes, as we said this morning, it was a bit calmer, a bit less stressful,\u201d said Baudin.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[191619,4985,56528,101,209408,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-636141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-alex-baudin","tag-cycling","tag-ef-education-easypost","tag-sports","tag-tour-auvergne-rhone-alpes","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}