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The second day in the Alps, and another stage packed with classified climbs. A strong breakaway vying for the both the stage win, and the King of the Mountains jersey will be expected today.
Gap is again a part of this year tour, with the race departing from the town today on a 186-kilometre journey to the town of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
Today is a very difficult stage to call for a number of reasons. There is a lot of climbing, but most of the climbs are in the first half of the race, and are fairly insignificant compared to the hors category climb of the Col de Glandon, which is summated with still 40 kilometres to go.
Also, with two very difficult stages to come after this, some of the general classification hopes will be hoping for a less intense day, especially considering the stage finishes on the flat.
The rollers will be working overtime for the riders in the preparation for the stage, with the profile rising up to the category 2 climb of Col de Bayard (6.3 kilometres at 7 percent) within the first 7 kilometres of the stage.
The next 70 kilometres include a further four categorised climbs, three of them are category three, and one is a category two. Due to this, the racing should be quite fast if the initial break is not well off the front after the Col de Bayard. If it is, the peloton will sit up and save energy for the back end of the stage.
After the 100 kilometre point, the next 50 kilometres are particularly all up hill, including the hors category climb of the Col de Glandon.
The climb of the Col de Glandon is deceptive, with the climb averaging 5 per cent over 21 kilometres. However, there are two descents in the climb, so there are sections which are up to 10 per cent, but they are on the first half of the climb.
The positioning of this climb is important. Too far away to expect attacks from the general classification favourites, but close enough to expect them on the descent of the climb.
Two-time winner of the Tour de France, Bernard Thevenet spoke to Cycling News of the difficulty of the descent of the Col de Glandon. “The riders will be torn between saving energy and attacking. And even more important than the climb, the descent of the Glandon is very technical. Riders like Contador and Nibali could make more time here than on the climb. In 1997, Richard Virenque and Festina put one minute into Jan Ullrich going down here. If a good descender gains time here, they should be able to hold that lead to the finish. It’s a good day to be a good climber and a good descender.”
The last piece of the puzzle on today’s stage is the final climb of the Lacets de Montvernier, which is situated 10 kilometres from the finish. It is a tough three-kilometre climb, averaging over 9 per cent. It offers the final launch pad for both the breakaway and the general classification favourites on today’s stage.
Due to the fact the stage does not finish on a climb, l would say the breakaway has a fairly good chance of making it today. Expect a large break, as this may be the last time the break could win before Paris.
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If you cannot beat Chris Froome on the uphill, why not try going down? 30 kilometres of technical descending greets the riders once they summit the top of the Col de Glandon. I expect attacks from Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador (hopefully better than yesterday), once again to regain time on their rivals ahead of them on general classification.
Once again, Froome will need teammates to protect him down the descent, but also to attempt, or at least limit any attacks which are made on the descent. Yesterday to Froome’s credit and to most people’s surprise, he was superb in nullifying any attacks, especially from Nibali. We may have underestimated his overall bike handling ability.
Again, the amount of points on offer for the King of the Mountains jersey will mean a hotly contested battle in the breakaway. Again, riders like Joaquim Rodríguez and Rafal Majka come to mind on a stage like this.
Also, having watched yesterday’s stage, watch for some key domestiques of Tinkoff Saxo, Movistar and Sky looking for the breakaway as another option to help protect their team leaders.
Other riders that you need to watch out for include Adam and Simon Yates, Rigoberto Uran, Andrew Talansky, Thibaut Pinot, Steven Krusiwijk, Serge Pauwels, Jakob Fuglsang, Romain Bardet and Pierre Roland.
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