Stage 20 : Brive-la-Gaillarde - Tulle, 245km
Officially, there is barely above 1/10 of that distance between those two cities. (28km).
Both are in the Corrèze département, both have already received the Tour.
For Brive, the last two stage finishes were won by Cipollini and Cavendish.
Hilariously wrong considering the route for 1998, as each one of the previous 6 (!) stages was flat.
How can it be totally flat when both of these cities are stuck in a narrow valley alongside the river Corrèze ?
Sure, thats more true for Tulle, but that was disappointing. Euphemism.
Anyway, Tulle received the Tour in 1996, and also saw a sprinter win.
But that time, the Tashkent Terror, the Uzbek Express, the Bactrian Tornado, the great and only Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won, on a breakaway,
what would be his last win in a GT.
It was a hilly finish.
Today, it will be an hilly race.
I am often disappointed by the choices of ASO, who is just too often prone (Ventoux, Tourmalet, Alpe d'Huez in the last 6 years) to use a massive mountain stage+finish as the last chance to make something happen.
Thats paralyzing for the riders, and as they're way too conservative right now, i feel that its not the best way to push them to attack in previous stages.
For today we have an Ardennes-like route, with 16 climbs over 245km, for an elevation gain over 4.100m.
Only those who reached a certain length or gradient are registered for the mountains classification, who could be decided today.
They may not be extra-steep for the most part, but they're still demanding, and controlling the race today will be seriously difficult.
And as it is very open, anything can happen. I feel that this kind of stage will be perfect without earpieces and team radios, but thats another issue.
I also feel that putting this kind of stage before the mountains is inappropriate, as the situation isnt there to create gaps, everyone still naively believing in the chances of their leader, whereas we all know he's going to end up 9th.
Once the mountains are done (at least one true stage), some will finally realize that they'll have to be creative to move up in the classification...
We'll start from Brive with a first loop of 80-85km to the south, on one bank of the Corrèze, and then we're going back to the north, on the other one. That will mean several small ascents, followed by a descent and we're going on like this for the day.
The northern part really starts the race as it is much harder there. The Côte d'Allassac is the first challenge, with a large part of the hill over 6.5%.
The next one is even tougher, the Côte de Travassac reaches over 8% for 2km, and we're over 10% for 400m.
We're not actually going through the slate walls, don't worry.
We're re-crossing twice the Corrèze en route to Tulle, with two other hills with parts over 7-8% for 1km or so.
Once in Tulle, as we're in the "city with seven hills", we're going to use them on a big loop around the city.
La Croix de Bar, going over 10% for 500m will be the most challenging for a while.
After crossing once again the Corrèze, we're ending the race from the South, with two more serious hills. Les Torts is not that difficult, but the first hundred meters are, they're over 7%, and the road is not very large.
The last climb of the day will be the toughest.
500m over 12% on a very narrow road, not unlike the Amstel or the Basque races with more obstacles on the road than actual asphalt.
It's not the steepest part, but its the cleanest for the eye.
A long (well, 2km is not that long, but thats longer than the wall itself, and for my legs, its torture) false flat follows and the finish line is 2km later.
Its not exactly as hard as i want that kind of stage to be (i would love to have a couple of real tests in there), but in is this area, i think you cant have much harder than that.
Its very comparable to the Amstel Gold Race, not as hard, but close enough.
With over 240km of racing in the Stage 20, and the obvious desperation from several riders and teams, as this one is wide open, this is the best way, i think, to finish the race.
The GC will normally not change if the gap is significant, but the race in itself should be very interesting and more dynamic than in Week 1 (where they are often seen), as the legs are tired, and the need to keep gas for later stages is completely gone.
And if the gap is not significant, well...i feel that open a lot of possibilities.