McEwen on Tour de France cobbles: "It's going to split and some riders are going to lose time"

The roads of northern France can be crucial for the Tour de France of many, a day that promises a lot of drama and thrilling racing. There will be many sub-plots in which to focus, however the most important one is sure to be the fight for the general classification as many seek to prevent loosing the race.

“The Roubaix stage, as we'll call it, is going to be pivotal to so many riders with GC hopes. And we see it every time that the race has gone to the cobbles it's counted a number of guys out of contention. For GC, they're losing two, three, five, seven minutes in one day, through crashes, punctures. Just being behind a split and never getting back," McEwen said in Eurosport. 

The fifth day of racing at the Tour de France will see the peloton cover 157 kilometers, with almost 20 of them being on cobbled sectors. It will be a nervous stage above all, where gaps can be made specially out of crashes and mechanicals. Of course, it also allows some GC riders to take advantage of their prowess, whilst the stage win and yellow jersey will simultaneously be up for grabs.

McEwen, who has been commenting the Tour so far, has added: “It creates so much tension and nervousness in the bunch. I think it's obvious it's going to split and some riders are going to lose time. Again, I hope people's races aren't decided by crashes. Obviously it's going to be dangerous. And it will end some people's hopes.”