Stage details
Distance: 208.5km
Category: Flat
Highest point: 231m
Over 200 long, flat and probably hot kilometres away from the final mountains means that this is a transitional stage that's been nailed on for the sprinters. Or it should be. After three stages in the Pyrennees, where they'll have been battling time cuts in the autobus, it's a chance to rekindle the green jersey competition. But this late on in the race, whose powers of endurance and recovery are best? The stage is devoid of any real difficulty or traps so the GC leaders will hope an unthreatening break goes early and they can all have a breather before the sprinters' teams start winding up for the final bunch gallop into Bergerac.
The intermediate sprint on the outskirts of Tonneins, and, for the puerile-minded, a pass through the town of Condom, should be the only mid race diversions...
But hang on… It's also the last chance for the breakaway to stick, so it's reasonable to expect that all of the early adventurers who shoot up the road will be a classy group of wily, efficient riders hunting a last gasp victory before tomorrow's time trial and the glorified crit in Paris.
Verdict: a tense struggle between the race craft of the world's finest opportunists and the might of the sprinters' teams looking to score.
Distance: 208.5km
Category: Flat
Highest point: 231m
Over 200 long, flat and probably hot kilometres away from the final mountains means that this is a transitional stage that's been nailed on for the sprinters. Or it should be. After three stages in the Pyrennees, where they'll have been battling time cuts in the autobus, it's a chance to rekindle the green jersey competition. But this late on in the race, whose powers of endurance and recovery are best? The stage is devoid of any real difficulty or traps so the GC leaders will hope an unthreatening break goes early and they can all have a breather before the sprinters' teams start winding up for the final bunch gallop into Bergerac.
The intermediate sprint on the outskirts of Tonneins, and, for the puerile-minded, a pass through the town of Condom, should be the only mid race diversions...
But hang on… It's also the last chance for the breakaway to stick, so it's reasonable to expect that all of the early adventurers who shoot up the road will be a classy group of wily, efficient riders hunting a last gasp victory before tomorrow's time trial and the glorified crit in Paris.
Verdict: a tense struggle between the race craft of the world's finest opportunists and the might of the sprinters' teams looking to score.
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