Absolutely. More mountains never hurt anybody.
Speaking of which, it's time for my queen stage.
Stage 18: Albertville - Le Mont du Chat, 254km
Climbs:
Col des Cyclotouristes (cat.1) 12,8km @ 7,7%
Signal de Bisanne (HC) 14,4km @ 8,5%
Côte de l'Héry (cat.3) 3,1km @ 5,8%
Col de l'Épine (cat.2) 6,4km @ 8,6%
Le Semnoz (Crêt de Châtillon)(HC) 18,5km @ 6,9%
Mont Revard (HC) 21,3km @ 6,1%
Mont du Chat (HC) 14,4,km @ 8,9%
Points:
Annecy (Avenue d'Albigny), 128km
Le Mont du Chat, finish
Yes, it's time for the toughest stage of the Tour, coming in at a UCI-baiting 254km in length. In terms of % of the stage spent climbing this is fairly low in comparison to the previous two days, but the difficulty of those climbs and the length of the stage makes this the clear queen stage (and proves will10 correct, as they pointed out right at the start that they expected Mont du Chat to make an appearance). There are 7 categorised climbs on the menu for today, of which 4 are Hors Catégorie; not only that, but some of the climbs will be brand new to the Tour's audiences.
The stage begins not far from the base of the Méribel climb, in the city of Albertville, a relatively young settlement best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics. The stage does not allow the riders to get into any kind of groove before launching into its first major climb. The
Col des Cyclotouristes has an interesting history; a local farmer paved a connecting route between two forestry access roads, and in 1969 a Col sign christening it with its current name was erected, only to be removed shortly afterwards by the local mayor, because it isn't technically a Col.
This link explains a little more about the history (in French). It is absolutely smothered in
hairpin turns on its relentless ascent, with many periods over 8% and a maximum of 13% on its 13km length. The road is in pretty good condition, perhaps the legacy of little use as it is a very quiet area.
Straight after the technical descent of the "Col" the riders are plunged into one of the toughest climbs of the race, and another first for the Tour, the epic
Signal de Bisanne climb,
high above the Col des Saisies. This is an
isolated wilderness up here, but 14km at a punishing average of 8,5%, with the final two kilometres averaging well over 10%, will get the fans out even if they are about 200km from the end of the stage. Any riders who are really struggling are going to have a very, very long day today. There are still no fewer than 211km remaining when we top this, the first HC climb of the day; already the fast men hate each other as the previous two days' climbing reminds them of what it has done to them.
It's at this point that I'm quite kind to them; the next 35km are all downhill, save for the short, comparatively shallow dig up to the Côte de l'Héry, as the riders descend into the town of
Ugine. Shortly after this the riders hit the
Col de l'Épine - but not the one adjacent to Mont du Chat; this one is, according to climbbybike, 6,4km @ 8,6%, but that profile would suggest it's a bit longer and a bit less steep. Nevertheless, it's the last non-HC climb of the day, coming with 161km to go. After this we have a blissful (for the riders) 30 or so rolling kilometres over Marais and Bluffy, to our intermediate sprint for the day, in the famous city of
Annecy, on the banks of
Lac d'Annecy. This marks almost precisely the halfway point in the stage (it's one km beyond it).
From Annecy, it's time to start our next HC climb, as we head to the summit of
Le Semnoz. This climb, known as the Crêt de Châtillon, was included in Le Tour for the first and only time in 1998, but the stage it was in was annulled after the raids on teams, and the climb has gone unraced by the TDF. This is a shame, because it is a long and
very difficult climb, with the last 10km averaging over 8%. The summit is still 107km from the stripe, so I don't expect early attacking here, but I do expect the big names to start to show signs of wear and tear, and somebody struggling here is going to really have to work to hide it. After crossing the summit, the riders will then face a technical descent before 15 rolling kilometres (including the uncategorised climb of Les Dagand) puts the riders into Grèsy-sur-Aix, just north of Aix-les-Bains.
This places us conveniently at the base of the penultimate climb of the day, the 21km slog up
Mont Revard. This is the shallowest climb of the day, but it's also the longest, so riders will still have to grit their teeth and force themselves up its
winding path to
the ski station at the summit. This would be the first time Mont Revard has been used as a pass in Le Tour; it was originally used as an ITT in 1965 (won by Felice Gimondi), then as an MTF in 1972 and 1991, which amazingly makes it the most commonly used climb in today's stage. If the stage is going to be animated early, this will be where it happens; the summit is 50km from the finish, and the descent is hard, fast and straight for most of its distance before a final technical challenge on the way into the city of Chambéry; attacks by pure climbers may be dissuaded by the 15km of flat between Chambéry and the foot of the final climb, however.
After 239km, however, there will be no more waiting. There can be no more. No matter how much soft-pedalling or careful racing goes on before this, the final MTF will shatter the bunch.
Mont du Chat is one of France's toughest, most unrelenting climbs, averaging nearly 9% for a full 14,4km; after the first two km it never relents below 8% again. Its reputation is fierce and its aura is great, all this despite only one edition of the Tour gracing its
nasty, nasty gradients and
twists and turns - that in 1970, when Spaniard Gonzalo Aja became the first and only rider to triumph on these hallowed slopes. This one will be a massacre, because even if the first 240km of UCI-approved stage length don't kill a rider off, there are several minutes to be won in this last 15. And that's with 160km of climbing from the previous two days on top of today's annihilation. We're talking 7 or 8 hours in the saddle here - a true tappone.
Albertville:
Mont du Chat:
As a fan it's a major win having the profiles of stages 13, 14, and 15 of last year's Giro.
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