- Feb 9, 2013
- 6,864
- 8,083
- 23,180
A bit anticlimactic after the anticipation of Hautacam today, but hopefully some riders not named Pog can pull some magic out of their hats on this TT. Merci, merci DE for the writeups!
For the first time since Alpe d’Huez in 2004, we have an out-and-out MTT. It will make for the shortest stage by distance, time and post length.
Map and profile
Start
Loudenvielle is easily the smallest town to host a stage start in this year’s Tour, at just 348 inhabitants. Despite its size, it is one of the more important touristic centres in the region, both in winter (since 2019, it is connected by gondola to the ski station at Peyragudes) and in summer (the Lac de Génos reservoir, completed in 1975, is popular for swimming). It has hosted Tour stage finishes in 1997, 2007 and 2020 as well as the start of last year’s Plateau de Beille stage.
(picture by Franckoof91 at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Now I’ve been pretty positive about the first 12 stages because they’re about as well as ASO could have done with the stage hosts they’ve selected, but that ends here. I’m going to be honest, I don’t see the point of this stage. The climb is a 20-minute effort at most, so GC gaps will be pretty small, which makes this stage a bit superfluous on a route with five HC MTFs. Moreover, barring the second coming of Alexander Foliforov, nothing that happens before the GC riders will be remotely relevant.
But either way, the route. The first three kilometres are mostly flat, interrupted by the briefest of descents through a singular hairpin, then the climb starts officially. The 1.1 kilometres from there to the first time check average 4.7%. At this time check, we join the profile below, and we do its final 6.9 kilometres (from the junction to Estarvielle and Loudenvielle onwards). Like in 2017 and 2021, the final hectometres are on the steep runway.
Finish
Originally established in 1967, Peyragudes is among the larger ski resorts in the French Pyrenees. In 1997, the opening sequence of the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies was shot here, something the station continues to advertise with. It had a reputation for highly conservative racing after the 2012 and 2017 Tour stages as well as a 2013 Vuelta stage, until Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard went ballistic on the stage that finished here in 2022, with the former winning a two-up sprint that did not help his GC position at all going into the Hautacam stage the day after. Oddly enough, this is the second time a MTT finishes here, as the Route du Sud did the same thing in 2010.
(picture by Hugo LUC at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
Marginal change if we have a proper GC battle on our hands, a foregone conclusion if we don’t.
For the first time since Alpe d’Huez in 2004, we have an out-and-out MTT. It will make for the shortest stage by distance, time and post length.
Map and profile
Start
Loudenvielle is easily the smallest town to host a stage start in this year’s Tour, at just 348 inhabitants. Despite its size, it is one of the more important touristic centres in the region, both in winter (since 2019, it is connected by gondola to the ski station at Peyragudes) and in summer (the Lac de Génos reservoir, completed in 1975, is popular for swimming). It has hosted Tour stage finishes in 1997, 2007 and 2020 as well as the start of last year’s Plateau de Beille stage.
(picture by Franckoof91 at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
Now I’ve been pretty positive about the first 12 stages because they’re about as well as ASO could have done with the stage hosts they’ve selected, but that ends here. I’m going to be honest, I don’t see the point of this stage. The climb is a 20-minute effort at most, so GC gaps will be pretty small, which makes this stage a bit superfluous on a route with five HC MTFs. Moreover, barring the second coming of Alexander Foliforov, nothing that happens before the GC riders will be remotely relevant.
But either way, the route. The first three kilometres are mostly flat, interrupted by the briefest of descents through a singular hairpin, then the climb starts officially. The 1.1 kilometres from there to the first time check average 4.7%. At this time check, we join the profile below, and we do its final 6.9 kilometres (from the junction to Estarvielle and Loudenvielle onwards). Like in 2017 and 2021, the final hectometres are on the steep runway.
Finish
Originally established in 1967, Peyragudes is among the larger ski resorts in the French Pyrenees. In 1997, the opening sequence of the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies was shot here, something the station continues to advertise with. It had a reputation for highly conservative racing after the 2012 and 2017 Tour stages as well as a 2013 Vuelta stage, until Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard went ballistic on the stage that finished here in 2022, with the former winning a two-up sprint that did not help his GC position at all going into the Hautacam stage the day after. Oddly enough, this is the second time a MTT finishes here, as the Route du Sud did the same thing in 2010.
(picture by Hugo LUC at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
Marginal change if we have a proper GC battle on our hands, a foregone conclusion if we don’t.
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