The heat is on for Andre Greipel and his Lotto Soudal team on Thursday's sixth stage of the Tour de France.
Greipel has yet to win a stage at this year's Tour despite being the dominant sprinter a year ago, winning four stages including the last on the Champs Elysees in Paris.
With the Pyrenees fast approaching from Friday, Thursday's 190.5km run from Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban is almost certain to finish in a sprint finish, according to Australian Simon Gerrans.
“Today being the last flat-ish stage for about the next week, it's hard to imagine it being anything but a bunch kick,” said the Orica rider on Twitter.
It means a last chance for Greipel to finally get off the mark before days of sweating up huge mountains and trying merely to survive.
While his sprint rivals Mark Cavendish (two) and Marcel (one) Kittel have won three stages between them already, Greipel has cut a frustrated figure, never yet managing to get himself into a position to truly threaten.
But Lotto Soudal aim to put that right on Thursday, according to one of his lead-out men, Jurgen Roelandts.
“Today is probably a new opportunity for a sprint, the last one before the rest day,” said the Belgian.
“Because we didn't win yet, the pressure is rising of course, but we have a team that should be able to cope with that.
“It's a bad idea to panic, at the Giro it also took a few days before we won a first time -- but a victory would of course be welcome.”
With temperatures of 25 Celsius at the start in the Cantal region and rising to 32 Celsius at the finish in Catalonia, it's going to be a tough day for a breakaway to hold off the peloton.
Greg Van Avermaet leads the Tour overall after managing to stay away in Wednesday's fifth stage, the first time a breakaway had gone all the way to then line.
The Belgian leads by more than five minutes in the standings but it almost certain to lose his grip on the yellow jersey on Friday.
But there's no way Lotto will let a breakaway get too far down the road on Thursday.
So far, where they've really messed up is in positioning Greipel in the right place once the sprint starts.
“It's all about getting to the front at the right moment in these hectic Tour sprints,” added Roelandts.
They have to battle with the other sprinters' teams, though, in particular Etixx, who found their groove on Tuesday's fourth stage, setting up Kittel for victory.
“(Thursday), a flat stage is on the cards, we will try to set up Marcel for the sprint,” vowed Julian Alaphilippe, who despite being second overall is more concerned with helping his team leader. – AFP