La Planche des Belles Filles

The Canadian begins his search for stage wins with the polka-dot jersey on his mind.

Last year, I made a mistake of having that goal as the first goal and it cost me both the jersey and the stage win,” he said. That’s often the case in the Tour but even more so this year because of the cobbles.” “It’s been a challenge for everybody to get through clean and safe, whether you’re at the front or the back it’s been hectic. [Friday] is day 1 for me for the Tour,” Woods said at the start of stage 6. It’s not the hardest climb in the race by far but it is a hard one, especially with the steep gradient at the front and then the gravel creates a bit more instability within the group and it forces you to think of positioning earlier than you’re supposed to. Woods decided to avoid GC ambitions at this year’s Tour de France and, instead, went into the grand tour with the aim of taking some stage wins.