La Roche-sur-Foron (France) (AFP)

One last week of the Tour de France, eyes turned to Imola: the favorites of the World Cycling Championships, almost all present on the Great Loop, are fine-tuning their preparation ten days from the deadline in Italy.

Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert, Marc Hirschi or even Maximilian Schachmann… The logical contenders for the rainbow jersey are in an unprecedented situation: they compete in the Tour within two weeks of the world championship when usually two months separate these two meetings.

Is this a disadvantage compared to those who skipped the Tour like the Dane Jakob Fuglsang?

It all depends on how the leader ran the Great Loop, Judge Rudy Molard, preselected with the Blues to support Julian Alaphilippe.

- Fatigue of the general classification -

"The physical and mental fatigue of the general classification can weigh heavily, the state of freshness at the exit of Tour will count. But Julian did not play the general", reminds AFP the climber of Groupama-FDJ.

"He knows how to manage his approach, the World Cup is a big goal for him. He has made a lot of efforts but has also finished from time to time in the gruppetto".

This was the case on Thursday, after launching into breakaways the past two days.

"I tried but it was too difficult," said Alaphilippe.

The five-time stage winner on the Tour had announced it, he did not want to “end up too tired”, he who completed the 2019 Tour and his 14 days of epic yellow, literally wrung out.

Quite the opposite of Wout van Aert who confided to be "completely screwed" on arrival at La Roche-sur-Foron.

Whoever prints the high cadence of the Jumbo train on half the final climbs had to work overtime on Thursday.

"The team told me that I still had to sprint to get the few seconds of bonuses (and deprive Tadej Pogacar of them)", explained van Aert who, despite his debauchery of energy, does not cross out on the World Cup.

His compatriot Oliver Naesen, selected to support him, does not see these intense and repeated efforts as an obstacle in the quest for the iridescent jersey.

"Everyone is at full speed every day, estimates the runner of AG2R. It is not because he is in front that he gives more than the others. He is as full as me, even if he there is a 15 minute difference between us every day ".

- "Last three days light" -

And unless he decides to snatch a third stage, a quieter end of the Tour awaits him, like his future rivals at Imola.

"We are lucky to have a stopwatch on Saturday, it's already one less stage, Rudy Molard analyzes. Friday's is also less difficult and we finish at the Champs-Elysées. We will say that the last three days of the Tour are a little lighter ".

Good news for the Swiss Marc Hirschi, still on the attack Thursday.

The stage winner in Sarran considers it "difficult to say" if he will be in good shape for the World Cup.

"It's my first big lap, recalls the Bernese. I have to see how my body reacts."

Michal Kwiatkowski, who has ten on the clock, does not see the proximity of the World Cup to the Tour as a problem.

"I'm going to come out in good condition," said the 2014 world champion. "And besides, I have already won the Clasica San Sebastian in 2016."

This year, the Mondial occupies a place similar to the Spanish classic in the remodeled calendar: the weekend following the arrival of the Tour in Paris.

In the last ten editions of the Clasica San Sebastian, only one has escaped a runner coming out of the Big Loop.

"The strong men of the World Cup will come out of the Tour," says Rudy Molard, who gives them a physical advantage "in the last hour of the race".

"They are not going to be well at the start but a world championship is won in the last hour".

© 2020 AFP