Questioned by letour.com this morning, Lampre-Merida's directeur sportif Philippe Mauduit declared:

“Our sprinter Davide Cimolai [Paris-Nice stage winner at Rasteau in the Rhône valley where the race arrives today] has had three very bad days, in Pyrenees and even more after the Pyrenees, but yesterday for the first time, he said he felt better, so it brings some hope. However, it's not sure that today's stage will be a bunch sprint finish, so we won't chase the breakaways only to please Greipel and Cavendish.

"The finish is flat. Cimolai needs a curvy and false flat finale to win. Therefore, we might as well target the breakaway. If the little Gautier [from Europcar] managed to break away two days in a row, it means Ruben Plaza should be able to do too, but we have several candidates: Durasek, Oliveira, Bono…”