A small southern breeze but again, the weather should not play a role in the outcome of the stage.
Olav Kooij - Well, the truth is there isn't anything meaningfully different about this sprint when comparing to others. No technical features or sections to really string things out. Hence chaos is likely to happen once again, and timing will be the key factor when it comes to deciding victory. Hence, it is hard to predict what will happen - split second decisions will be important. A pure bunch sprint is expected, Jumbo-Visma will have more than ever to assure Milan Vader takes the GC win but as always,
Olav Kooij will be a dangerous man into the line.
Jonathan Milan - Milan has so far always had good positioning but often launches his sprints too early. This can be an issue, if someone follows his wheel he is doomed to be overtaken to the line. However if he does time it perfectly he can absolutely take the win. He has already this week, and Bahrain seem to be one of the teams that is handling the best the confusion that the sprints in China are being.
The other winner of a sprint these past few days was
Elia Viviani, but over the past few stages he has not shown the speed from his first day - which was partly due to the perfect positioning he had. I would have with better chances the performance of a rider like
Arvid de Kleijn, and who knows
Sam Bennett who does not have the climbing form but as long as he stays in the peloton he should have a shot at a pure sprint.
*** Jonathan Milan, Olav Kooij
**
Juan Sebastián Molano, Arvid de Kleijn
* Elia Viviani, Sam Bennett, Tobias Lund Andresen, Arnaud de Lie, Marijn van den Berg, Max Kanter