Tour de France 2020 | Stage 11 (Châtelaillon-Plage - Poitiers, 167.5 km)

[Devil's Elbow]

The only sprint stage in this Tour that follows another sprint stage... this won't be the longest of opening posts.

Map

Profile

Timetable
Start: 13:25
Côte de Cherveux: 15:39/15:44/15:50
Intermediate sprint: 16:01/16:07/16:14
Finish: 17:18/17:28/17:39

Climbs
Côte de Cherveux is the easiest categorised climb of the race, even the rise just before the intermediate sprint (2.6k at 3.3%) is harder (Bora might try to pressure Bennett here). Links to the profiles are here and here.

Finish
Slightly trickier than the official profile shows. The rise from the river is a little over a kilometer at about 3%, then the road ramps up again in the final 350 meters.

General classification after Stage 10

1. Primoz Roglic
2. Egan Bernal + 0.21
3. Guillaume Martin + 0.28
4. Romain Bardet + 0.30
5. Nairo Quintana + 0.32
6. Rigoberto Uran s.t.
7. Tadej Pogacar + 0.44
8. Adam Yates + 1.02
9. Miguel Ángel López + 1.15
10. Mikel Landa + 1.42

Points classification after Stage 10

1. Sam Bennett 196
2. Peter Sagan 175
3. Bryan Coquard 129
4. Matteo Trentin 123
5. Wout van Aert 111

Mountains classification after Stage 10

1. Benoît Cosnefroy 36
2. Nans Peters 31
3. Marc Hirschi 26
4. Ilnur Zakarin 25
5. Toms Skujins 24

Young riders classification after Stage 10

1. Egan Bernal
2. Tadej Pogacar + 0.23
3. Enric Mas + 1.41
4. Sergio Higuita + 5.47
5. Harold Tejada + 45.02

 

[tobydawq]

Uphill sprint, easy Ewan win.

I think Bora will drill it before the intermediate sprint to ensure that Bennett can't be at the front of the peloton there. He will not be dropped but that isn't necessary.

 

[Breezy1985]

Should be as close a sprint as today

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

The Sagan of old would have really fancied this. As it stands I’d give Ewan a 50% chance, Bennett a 30% chance, the rest of the field a 20% chance. Gradient shifts it from 40-40-20.

 

[Leinster]

Uphill sprint, easy Ewan win.

I think Bora will drill it before the intermediate sprint to ensure that Bennett can't be at the front of the peloton there. He will not be dropped but that isn't necessary.

It's hard to read the profile 100% accurately, but I don't think that lump in the road will be enough to dislodge Bennett. He's pretty good on climbs close to the finish.

 

[tobydawq]

Hmm, how certain are we of that small incline on the profile in the OP? That does not feature in the official Tour profile.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

For the breakaway, how about the whole of Team Total Direct Energie ? I doubt Declerq and De Gendt would have to break sweat but at least they might finish before it gets dark

 

[tobydawq]

It's hard to read the profile 100% accurately, but I don't think that lump in the road will be enough to dislodge Bennett. He's pretty good on climbs close to the finish.

Well, if there indeed is an incline, there isn't much to discuss. Ewan is simply lighter and can't be beaten on a short incline. It has nothing to do with dislodging, Ewan just loses less speed if it's uphill, it's pretty elementary physics and he has demonstrated it tons of times. The question is if there really is an incline.

 

[Red Rick]

Uphill sprint, easy Ewan win.

I think Bora will drill it before the intermediate sprint to ensure that Bennett can't be at the front of the peloton there. He will not be dropped but that isn't necessary.

Yeah I was thinking I wanna see the profile of that part of the stage, but I'm not sure it's actually steep.

 

[tobydawq]

Yeah I was thinking I wanna see the profile of that part of the stage, but I'm not sure it's actually steep.

I don't think it is, either. But still, they just have to put the pressure on, and he may be unable to stay in the front.

 

[Gigs_98]

That climb before the intermediate sprint could make things spicy

 

[sir fly]

Well, if there indeed is an incline, there isn't much to discuss. Ewan is simply lighter and can't be beaten on a short incline. It has nothing to do with dislodging, Ewan just loses less speed if it's uphill, it's pretty elementary physics and he has demonstrated it tons of times. The question is if there really is an incline.

I'm not sure whether it's about the "g", "a" or "p" vector, but Ewan's inertial measure certainly is the lowest.

 

[Leinster]

Well, if there indeed is an incline, there isn't much to discuss. Ewan is simply lighter and can't be beaten on a short incline. It has nothing to do with dislodging, Ewan just loses less speed if it's uphill, it's pretty elementary physics and he has demonstrated it tons of times. The question is if there really is an incline.

I thought you were referring to Bora drilling the incline before the intermediate. I can't see him getting dropped on that.

Ewan is smaller than other sprinters, but sprinting never comes down to just physics.

 

[Red Rick]

That climb before the intermediate sprint could make things spicy

Hardest climb of the day

"Nah intermediate sprint"

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

It’s actually fun to have a real competition for Green. It’s so rare these days.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Hmm, how certain are we of that small incline on the profile in the OP? That does not feature in the official Tour profile.

I double-checked the finish on Streetview, it's definitely there.

 

[Leinster]

It’s actually fun to have a real competition for Green. It’s so rare these days.

If someone, anyone, (Hirschi looks in a good position) would just take the polka dots off Cosnefroy, we might have an actual competition for all 4 jerseys this year.

 

[fuiers]

Ewan could be in for this. Who knows if Van Aert also could be in the mix.

 

[Sciatic]

If I was breakaway specialist I would wait till Stage 12 to have go; much better chance of staying away from the highly motivated sprint teams than on tomorrow’s stage.

 

[dick the quick]

View from the finish line downwards, from Maps Google Street View:

Don't know if such a gradient could be a factor.

 

[Eclipse]

If someone, anyone, (Hirschi looks in a good position) would just take the polka dots off Cosnefroy, we might have an actual competition for all 4 jerseys this year.

Cosnefroy is surely going to get dismantled by someone from Friday onwards. There's enough good climbers whose primary goal is over who could salvage a bit of pride in polka dots.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

View from the finish line downwards, from Maps Google Street View:

Don't know if such a gradient could be a factor.

It’s not much but the differences between the real elite sprinters are so small that it probably is enough to give Ewan a notable advantage.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Cosnefroy is surely going to get dismantled by someone from Friday onwards. There's enough good climbers whose primary goal is over who could salvage a bit of pride in polka dots.

yeah, that competition is sort of temporarily suspended in between the early contest to wear it for a while and the later contest to win it. I just hope that the later “contest” doesn’t just consist of one big name whose GC ambitions are over grabbing a load of points quickly and everyone else giving up

 

[sir fly]

View: https://youtu.be/-93irO9RGcc?t=43

 

[WKA311]

View from the finish line downwards, from Maps Google Street View:

Don't know if such a gradient could be a factor.

Reminds of Copenhagen worlds. I don't think it has much influence but Ewan must be favourite.