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Tour de France 2014 preview: Week 2

Vincenzo Nibali is a Giro d'Italia favourite with Team Astana. (AFP PHOTO/ JAIME REINA)
Expert
12th July, 2014
0

Week one of the Tour de France is done and dusted, and what a week it has been!

Insanely big crowds, key names crashing, and some incredible efforts – particularly on Stage 5 – week one will be remembered for years.

Marcel Kittel and Vincenzo Nibali have been the dominated the race, although Mark Cavendish and Chris Froome’s crashes have certainly helped their cause.

So what does week two have in store for the Tour? Mountains – and plenty of them.

From Stage 8 to 14 there will be four summit finishes, with a total of 30 categorised climbs over the seven days. There are eight category 1 and two hors catégorie climbs, going a long way to deciding who can finish on the podium in Paris.

Stage 8 eases the riders into the mountains, the 161-kilometre stage featuring three climbs in the last 20 kilometres, two category 2 and the summit finish category 3. Before this will be 140 kilometres of flat roads and the intermediate sprint which comes after 100 kilometres, set to be hotly contested by the men who want to be in green.

Tip: With the time gaps that have already opened up, expect Alberto Contador to try and gain some time on the climbs. The other problem the riders will take into account is the route for the rest of the week, and whether it will really be worth expending energy for a couple of seconds possible to gain.

Expect the stage to end with the main contenders for yellow all together at the line, with Contador to win the uphill sprint to the line.

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Stage 9 holds six climbs over a 170-kilometre route, one category 1 climb and the rest either category 2 or 3. With a long, flat descent section to the line about 30 kilometres from the summit of the final climb, the main riders should almost be subdued on this stage, just marking each other and watching. The intermediate sprint for the day is after four climbs, but before the category 1 climb, so it will be interesting to see if the sprinters can hold on.

Tip: The stage has breakaway written all over it, and if that’s the case expect Thomas Voeckler to be all over it, with 6 climbs and a chance to take the King of the Mountains Jersey during the stage. Meanwhile, expect no major change to the Overall as the riders brace for stage 10.

Stage 10 finishes on the Category 1 La Planche des Belles Filles. In 2012 Bradley Wiggins took yellow here and allowed teammate Chris Froome to win the stage by riding away from everyone. With seven climbs on the day, four of them category 1, there is the potential for a long-range attack, particularly with the rest day following this stage.

Tip: Contador will be too strong on the final climb and will put a small margin into Nibali for GC, but not enough to take yellow. Expect Richie Porte to really begin to come into his own as well, relishing the opportunity to lead Team Sky.

After the rest day, Stage 11 has four climbs over a 30-kilometre period before a 20-kilometre descent to the finish line. The category 3 and 4 climbs should wipe out the pure srinters because of the fact there is no recovery time in between each climb.

Tip: Expect Peter Sagan, Simon Gerrans and Greg Van Avermaet to be among the names to battle it out for the sprint at the bottom of the descent to the finish line. Don’t expect any major time gaps in the GC unless one of the riders really loses their way on the small climbs.

Stage 12 is similar to stage 11, however the climbs are spaced throughout the stage. Once again there is about 20km to the line after the final climb and this time the sprinters have a chance to be there at the end if they can ride the final climb, which is long rather than steep.

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Tip: Sagan should be able to get over the climbs and win the stage, however his team will have to get rid of the other sprinters on the final climb without losing Sagan as well. Once again, only a daring attack or someone really running into trouble could change the GC.

Stage 13 to Chamrousse at 197.5 kilometres is long and hard. It starts up a category 3 climb, followed by about 110km of rolling roads that should be good for a breakaway. After that is a category 1 climb before a descent, the intermediate sprint most probably for Sagan and then the first HC climb of the Tour to Chamrousse. The climb is a little over 20 kilometres and rises 1730 metres above sea level.

Tip: Expect a breakaway to have a big lead heading towards the final two climbs for the day, but the gap to vanish as attacks go up the road, particularly riders with big time gaps to the leader. The day should finish with a two-way duel between Nibali and Contador at the top of the climb, with groups of riders dotted all the way behind them.

Stage 14 is up there with the hardest of them all. The 177 kilometres from Grenoble to Rissoul will only cross three climbs, but these climbs will create time gaps. The intermediate sprint comes after 40 kilometres, then we will see who has the legs to put themselves in a position to win the Tour.

The first climb will be the category 1 Col du Lauteret, which will climb for nearly 30 kilometres. Then it is on to the feared Col d’Izoard, which is long, hard and steep, and if you lose touch there is no coming back. This will be followed by the category 1 climb to Rissoul, 12.6 kilometres with an average gradient of 6.9 per cent, which shows just how much time could be lost.

Tip: Only the best will make it to the top with the leaders, and Contador to once again fight it out with Nibali.

What’s in store for the riders will not be for the faint hearted. The second week of this year’s Tour will go a long way to deciding who wins this year’s race.

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