- Sep 20, 2017
- 10,786
- 19,878
- 28,180
Another mid-mountain kind of day in the Massif Central, perhaps slightly tougher than Tuesday’s stage. Will this one be equally hectic?
Profile
Map
The route
Today’s start is in Roanne, hosting the Tour for the first time since a start in 2008 (Sylvain Chavanel’s maiden stage victory) and a professional race for the first time since the 2019 Dauphiné TT where Froome suffered his effectively career-ending crash during the recon. The first 38 kilometres are quite heavy on the climbing: after an uncategorised drag up to Montagny, there’s the Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs…
…which backs into the Col des Écorbans, which is quite a bit longer than the categorised part.
After some easier climbing, there’s a longer descent into the Saône valley, where the riders turn south for a rolling section through the foothills to the intermediate sprint.
The finish line is a stone’s throw away from here, but there is still a long loop through the Beaujolais mountains before it is reached. This loop takes the riders over three climbs in ascending order of difficulty with very little flat in between them. First up is Col de la Casse Froide, very hard for a cat. 3.
It is followed by Col de la Croix Montmain, as consistent a climb as you’ll find anywhere.
The trifecta concludes with the hardest climb of the day, Col de la Croix Rosier, with bonus seconds at its summit.
The summit of this climb is at 28k to go. After the descent, the riders make for Mont Brouilly, start heading up the easy bit towards the col… then, rather than turning onto the steep section, are diverted round it. This leaves the first 1.8k of the profile below.
The final section into Belleville-en-Beaujolais is unremarkable.
Final kilometres
Profile
Map
The route
Today’s start is in Roanne, hosting the Tour for the first time since a start in 2008 (Sylvain Chavanel’s maiden stage victory) and a professional race for the first time since the 2019 Dauphiné TT where Froome suffered his effectively career-ending crash during the recon. The first 38 kilometres are quite heavy on the climbing: after an uncategorised drag up to Montagny, there’s the Côte de Thizy-les-Bourgs…
…which backs into the Col des Écorbans, which is quite a bit longer than the categorised part.
After some easier climbing, there’s a longer descent into the Saône valley, where the riders turn south for a rolling section through the foothills to the intermediate sprint.
The finish line is a stone’s throw away from here, but there is still a long loop through the Beaujolais mountains before it is reached. This loop takes the riders over three climbs in ascending order of difficulty with very little flat in between them. First up is Col de la Casse Froide, very hard for a cat. 3.
It is followed by Col de la Croix Montmain, as consistent a climb as you’ll find anywhere.
The trifecta concludes with the hardest climb of the day, Col de la Croix Rosier, with bonus seconds at its summit.
The summit of this climb is at 28k to go. After the descent, the riders make for Mont Brouilly, start heading up the easy bit towards the col… then, rather than turning onto the steep section, are diverted round it. This leaves the first 1.8k of the profile below.
The final section into Belleville-en-Beaujolais is unremarkable.
Final kilometres
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