OP by @Devil's Elbow: https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threa...4-stage-by-stage-analysis.39775/#post-3032419
After all of four kilometres over 8%, the first Alpine ‘block’ comes to an end, and suddenly the next mountains are quite far away. With the race sticking to the valleys for most of the day rather than using the ample opportunities to give the fast men something to think about, this should be the second sprint.
The route
A short transfer down the Télégraphe has brought the riders into the Maurienne valley, where the northern and southern French Alps meet, for a stage start in its historical capital and largest town: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. This will be the sixth Tour it hosts, all of which have been since 2006 (although the Tour has, of course, passed through it many more times). The first of those appearances was as the start of that stage to Morzine.
The first part of the stage is spent exiting the Alps by the shortest, flattest route available. The most notable stopoff is Chambéry, historical capital of the Savoie (the original area of the Duchy of Savoy, only ceded to France in 1860 as payment by the eponymous, aforementioned house in exchange for French help in its conquest/unification of Italy. Just after this, the route turns uphill for the first time, up the easy, uncategorised Col de Couz.
The first KOM, Côte du Cheval Blanc, is tiny even compared to Col de Couz and clearly only categorised because someone threw some money at ASO. By this point, the race has left the Alps in earnest. Following an intermediate sprint in Aoste (not that one)…
…the riders make for the Ain valley, in which the final quarter of the stage is mostly spent. It is briefly left for the day’s hardest climb (which isn’t saying much), Côte de Lhuis. It is the first 4.7 kilometres of the profile below.
The finish town isn’t exactly large, but you wouldn’t know it from the road widths. With two roundabouts and three traffic islands being adjusted or removed for the race, it is a very straightforward finale, save for that 40-degree turn at 250 metres to go.
Saint-Vulbas is a village (just over 1200 inhabitants, so it joins the list of smallest-ever Tour hosts) surrounded by a nuclear power plant and a large industrial terrain, the latter of which we finish on. I’m really not sure what a place like this stands to gain from ponying up the cash to organise a Tour finish, but it does love its cycling, being a staple of the Tour de l’Ain and having hosted the Dauphiné in 2016. None of those stages had the same finale as this one, which concludes on the road through the woodlands on the image below.
What to expect?
A sprint, of course. Any sprinter who gets dropped on that final cat. 4 may as well retire on the spot…
After all of four kilometres over 8%, the first Alpine ‘block’ comes to an end, and suddenly the next mountains are quite far away. With the race sticking to the valleys for most of the day rather than using the ample opportunities to give the fast men something to think about, this should be the second sprint.
The route
A short transfer down the Télégraphe has brought the riders into the Maurienne valley, where the northern and southern French Alps meet, for a stage start in its historical capital and largest town: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. This will be the sixth Tour it hosts, all of which have been since 2006 (although the Tour has, of course, passed through it many more times). The first of those appearances was as the start of that stage to Morzine.
The first part of the stage is spent exiting the Alps by the shortest, flattest route available. The most notable stopoff is Chambéry, historical capital of the Savoie (the original area of the Duchy of Savoy, only ceded to France in 1860 as payment by the eponymous, aforementioned house in exchange for French help in its conquest/unification of Italy. Just after this, the route turns uphill for the first time, up the easy, uncategorised Col de Couz.
The first KOM, Côte du Cheval Blanc, is tiny even compared to Col de Couz and clearly only categorised because someone threw some money at ASO. By this point, the race has left the Alps in earnest. Following an intermediate sprint in Aoste (not that one)…
…the riders make for the Ain valley, in which the final quarter of the stage is mostly spent. It is briefly left for the day’s hardest climb (which isn’t saying much), Côte de Lhuis. It is the first 4.7 kilometres of the profile below.
The finish town isn’t exactly large, but you wouldn’t know it from the road widths. With two roundabouts and three traffic islands being adjusted or removed for the race, it is a very straightforward finale, save for that 40-degree turn at 250 metres to go.
Saint-Vulbas is a village (just over 1200 inhabitants, so it joins the list of smallest-ever Tour hosts) surrounded by a nuclear power plant and a large industrial terrain, the latter of which we finish on. I’m really not sure what a place like this stands to gain from ponying up the cash to organise a Tour finish, but it does love its cycling, being a staple of the Tour de l’Ain and having hosted the Dauphiné in 2016. None of those stages had the same finale as this one, which concludes on the road through the woodlands on the image below.
What to expect?
A sprint, of course. Any sprinter who gets dropped on that final cat. 4 may as well retire on the spot…
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