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If we don’t know the winner of this year’s Tour de France already, we will after tonight’s short but sharp 125 kilometre stage from Saint Gaudens to Saint Lary Pla d’Adet. Join The Roar from 9:30pm (AEST) for all the action.
It may be the shortest stage of the Tour but it will certainly pack a punch. As well as being one of the last chances for the general classification boys to put in a concerted push to displace Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) from the top of the table, the King of the Mountain aspirants will be eagerly chasing points in that hotly contested competition.
In fact, a massive 70 KOM points are on offer tonight as the race tracks over three category one climbs followed by a mountain top finish on the ‘hors categorie’ Pla d’Adet.
Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Nibali are within three points of each other at the top of the KOM table, and given the nature of today’s stage, it could be overall race leader Nibali who finds himself leading the competition going into tomorrow’s final day in the mountains.
The only ones left on the final climb will be the heavy hitters from the general classification, and the heaviest of those hitters will be Nibali. With double KOM points on the line for finishing on a climb rated HC, the Shark of Messina is odds on to add the polka-dot jersey to his ever growing collection of yellow ones.
While Australia’s Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) claimed victory for the breakaway yesterday, today’s short stage and uphill finish will ensure that only a select group of overall contenders will be fighting for line honours today.
Things will be fairly sedate for the first 50 kilometres, but by the time the television coverage begins you’ll have no time to look away, so make sure all your drinks and snacks are pre-prepared.
The Col du Portillon (8.3km @ 7.1%) is crested just 57 kilometres into the race and after that the parcours follows a repeated pattern of hair-raising descents and quad cramping climbs. Only the strongest will survive.
There is an intermediate sprint at 31 kilometres, but of more concern to the sprinters will be making it to the finish before the cutoff. If Nibali, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and the French Connection of Thibaut Pinaut (FDJ), Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) and Romain Bardet (AG2R) start trading blows at the front of the race, then the flatlanders may find themselves scrambling to get home in time.
The climbs and when they appear are as follows –
57.5km – Col du Portillon (8.3km @ 7.1%) cat 1
82km – Col de Peyresourde (13.2km @ 7%) cat 1
102.5km – Col de Val Louron-Azet (7.4km @ 8.3%) cat 1
124.5km – Pla d’Adet (10.2km @ 8.3%) cat HC
Join us for all the thrills and spills of a red hot stage, live from 9:30pm AEST.
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