Tour de France 2017 stage 9: Nantua > Chambéry - 181,5 km

[Simurgh]

Even in the Alps and the Pyrenees, climbs with average gradients of close to 10% on their entire length are pretty rare. There will be three on this Jura stage with a total ascending elevation of 4600 metres. The riders will first discover the climb up the Col de la Biche, followed by the unprecedented and fearsome side of the Grand Colombier, known as the Directissime (gradients up to 22%), and will finish the battle off with the Mont du Chat, not on the Tour map since 1974. It'll be a real...

A real what? A real race of suffering, is my guess that Prudhomme was saying before being cut off. Because that is what 3 HC climbs, bad weather and a descent finish in aforementioned bad weather means.

The stage starts in the small town of Nantua, and then it goes straight up to the cat. 2 climb Côte des Neyrolles (3,2 km á 7,2%). It does still go uphill until cat. 3 Col de Bérentin (4.1 km á 6.1%). The riders will ride on a plateau, before the route goes downhill until the town Barrage de Genissant, where Côte de Franclens (2.4 km á 6%) is to be climbed. From there it is downhill again until Col de la Biche and Grand Colombier, where Thomas Voeckler was the first rider reach the top in its Tour debut in stage 10 in 2012 (Voeckler went on to win the stage) follows eachother in quick succesion:

After the descent of Grand Colombier, the riders rides through a valley until the little cat. 4 bump Côte de Jongieux (3,9 km á 4,2%), before the fearsome Mont du Chat...

...which featured in the Tour in 1974, where Raymond Poulidor dropped Eddy Merkcx and in latest in the Dauphine in this year, where Fuglsang won the stage after beating Froome and Porte in the sprint after the descent.

Tour promotion video of Mont du Chat in 1974:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVJBiGBwnUI

The flying Angel Fabio Aru the first over Mont du Chat in 2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-_Inq6QrY

Will the angel fly tomorrow, or will Froome coup them all and end the race in his favor? Or will Romain Bardet show off his amazing descending skills? Tomorrow we will find out.

Weather forecast (in French)

General classification top 10 after stage 7:

1. Christopher FROOME
2. Geraint THOMAS + 12''
3. Fabio ARU + 14''
4. Daniel MARTIN + 25''
5. Richie PORTE + 39''
6. Simon YATES + 43''
7. Romain BARDET + 47''
8. Alberto CONTADOR + 52''
9. Nairo QUINTANA + 54''
10. Rafal MAJKA + 1'01''

Polka dot King of the Mountain jersey top 5

1. Lilian CALMEJANE 11
2. Fabio ARU 10
3. Dan MARTIN 8
4. Robert GESINK 8
5. Warren BARGUIL 7

 

[Eagle]

Could we stop with these polls on stages that are likely to go to breaks?

 

[DanielSong39]

Sky drills it and ends the tour.

 

[Simurgh]

Re:

Could we stop with these polls on stages that are likely to go to breaks?

I see your point, and since you aren't the first to mention it, I'll remove it (even though one could ignore it)

 

[Keram]

Action will be killed because of that valley after Colombier and that 12 km flat after final descent. But wheather could do some damage. I would destroy peleton to pieces at PCM because profile looks promising but this is real world with Sky train so I dont expect something thrilling.

 

[GP Blanco]

Wouldn't the stage been better if they had used the Dauphine finish?

 

[portugal11]

Pinot ftw

 

[Dazed and Confused]

An example of a perfectly designed mountain stage. However I see a lack of quality in the GC field when it comes to take advantage here. One can hope however.

 

[RattaKuningas]

I think that we will see GC casualties already on Col de la Biche because there is no way that everyone is going to be fresh tomorrow after today's stage.

 

[MightyWheelSucker]

So, the hardest stage of this year Tour has rougly something like 20 km of total ascents in the last 90 km. Guy with strongest team smiles...

 

[Summoned]

Looks like Sky wants to hold the yellow jersey until Paris, on the basis of their holding the break in check today. Is it possible that having that goal at the same time as they want to have Froome win the Tour could present a conflict in their responses to certain pressures?

 

[DNP-Old]

Rain on Mont du Chat.

 

[Samamba]

Re:

Rain on Mont du Chat.

Watch them neutralize the descent.

 

[sir fly]

The stage should sort the contenders out by their strength.
Tough HC trio.

 

[Netserk]

Thanks a lot for all the stage threads, Simurgh!

 

[LaFlorecita]

We'll see. I'm managing my expectations so I won't be too disappointed. Wouldn't be surprised if Sky beat this stage and the race to death.

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

Rain on Mont du Chat.

Watch them neutralize the descent.

Descent will be neutralized if and only if the yellow jersey falls.

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

We'll see. I'm managing my expectations so I won't be too disappointed. Wouldn't be surprised if Sky beat this stage and the race to death.

I don't know if Sky can "neutralize" this stage because climbs like Chat are very steep and trains are a lot less effective on climbs like that, offering only mental support. If nobody attacks tomorrow then they can only blame themselves not Sky.

 

[Anderis]

Some irrelevant breakaway riders to fight for the stage win. A group of around 20 men with GC guys to sprint for top10 places 2 or 3 minutes behind.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

We'll see. I'm managing my expectations so I won't be too disappointed. Wouldn't be surprised if Sky beat this stage and the race to death.

I don't know if Sky can "neutralize" this stage because climbs like Chat are very steep and trains are a lot less effective on climbs like that, offering only mental support. If nobody attacks tomorrow then they can only blame themselves not Sky.

The first 140km neutralize themselves due to the long valley and the prospect of being chased by the Sky train. Froome can very well handle Mont du Chat alone, and the final 10 k's could neutralize some of the GC action as I can't see riders pushing to get to the top or bottom of Chat with a 10s advantage.

 

[deValtos]

I can see Froome risking his life for 10 seconds on the descent. :lol:

 

[Sestriere]

I could see Orica trying something from further out. Kreuziger and Chaves are still quite in contention but no immediate threats so maybe they could manoeuvre themselves into the break.
Also, Yates and Chaves liked to race agressively in la Vuelta last year and they seemed to cooperate pretty well. My hope for someone to lighten the race up before Mont du Chat lies on them.

 

[Sylvester]

The valley between the Colombier and Mont du Chat makes the stage more interesting, in my opinion - breakaway teammates of GC riders might actually be of some use. Not that I think anything extraordinary is going to happen at this point as none of the GC riders are desperate, but you never know.

The Colombier is extremely hard though, and I guess we'll see a real battle of attrition.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

I can see Froome risking his life for 10 seconds on the descent. :lol:

So could I because IMO he's the only GC contender who could hold that on the final 10k's.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

The valley between the Colombier and Mont du Chat makes the stage more interesting, in my opinion - breakaway teammates of GC riders might actually be of some use. Not that I think anything extraordinary is going to happen at this point as none of the GC riders are desperate, but you never know.

The Colombier is extremely hard though, and I guess we'll see a real battle of attrition.

Oh definitely. I think we'll see riders cracking left and right. Not sure who though. It's kinda like Russian roulette.