After a rest day, the second week of le Tour begins with a fairly short stage designed exactly as a “typical TdF flat stage” usually is. Stage profile and map are below:
Starting location is Ile d’Oleron, the second biggest (after la Corse) French island, close to the Atlantic coast. Shortly after the start, the riders will pass the bridge viaduc d'Oléron and they will reach the continent. Then, they will do a long circuit around the town of Marennes, firstly heading south-south east along the ocean coast, later on going north through the department of Charente-Maritime, coming back to Marennes. From that point on, the route goes either in a close proximity of ocean or directly next to the ocean coastline, traversing the historical towns of Rochefort and La Rochelle.
Then, around 15 km before the finish line, the peloton will travers almost 3-km long bridge Pont de l’Île de Ré:
Interestingly, the finish line in Saint-Martin-de-Ré is located not in the town itself, but in a wide open area outside the historical city center.
Intermediate sprint: Chatelaillon-Plage, 129,5 km
GPM: none (this is the only stage of this year’s TdF which features not a single categorized GPM).
Prediction:
Most likely a typical bunch sprint stage (if no crosswinds, echelons and main group splits will happen). As per the latest weather forecast, no strong wind is expected (NNE 13 km/h, wind gusts 22 km/h).
Trivia:
- this is possibly the first ever stage of le Tour de France which starts and ends on two different islands;
- the starting location is very close to Fort Boyard, a fortress built in the 19th century and emerging directly from the ocean, where a popular TV game show was set and filmed (I liked it a lot when I was kid in the 90s).
Starting location is Ile d’Oleron, the second biggest (after la Corse) French island, close to the Atlantic coast. Shortly after the start, the riders will pass the bridge viaduc d'Oléron and they will reach the continent. Then, they will do a long circuit around the town of Marennes, firstly heading south-south east along the ocean coast, later on going north through the department of Charente-Maritime, coming back to Marennes. From that point on, the route goes either in a close proximity of ocean or directly next to the ocean coastline, traversing the historical towns of Rochefort and La Rochelle.
Then, around 15 km before the finish line, the peloton will travers almost 3-km long bridge Pont de l’Île de Ré:
Interestingly, the finish line in Saint-Martin-de-Ré is located not in the town itself, but in a wide open area outside the historical city center.
Intermediate sprint: Chatelaillon-Plage, 129,5 km
GPM: none (this is the only stage of this year’s TdF which features not a single categorized GPM).
Prediction:
Most likely a typical bunch sprint stage (if no crosswinds, echelons and main group splits will happen). As per the latest weather forecast, no strong wind is expected (NNE 13 km/h, wind gusts 22 km/h).
Trivia:
- this is possibly the first ever stage of le Tour de France which starts and ends on two different islands;
- the starting location is very close to Fort Boyard, a fortress built in the 19th century and emerging directly from the ocean, where a popular TV game show was set and filmed (I liked it a lot when I was kid in the 90s).
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