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After a farcical finish on Mont Ventoux, the peloton must refocus for Stage 13 of the Tour de France, a difficult individual time trial. Join The Roar for live coverage from 8pm (AEST).
Stage 12 was looking good for Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema before a motorbike was forced to stop and caused a crash.
What followed next was almost comical as Chris Froome, in his yellow jersey, ran towards the finish. In the end, they were given the same time as Mollema in what seemed like the best solution for all involved.
Moving onto one of the most important stages in this year’s race though, and 37.5 kilometres of pain awaits the riders. It’s far from flat, like some individual time trials, going up to a maximum of 409 metres above sea level.
After setting out from Bourg-saint-Andeol, the first seven kilometres are almost entirely uphill, going to that high point and the first time check.
There is barely any respite with only a gradual drop for the next 15 kilometres, which includes plenty of flat sections, and even one that goes back uphill.
From there it goes steeply downhill for a couple of kilometres before the second time check at 28 kilometres.
After a couple more kilometres of flat, the route goes back uphill for the final five kilometres, finishing 270 metres above sea level at La Caverne du Pont d’Arc.
With all the climbing and elevation throughout the race, even with no categorised climbs on course, the climbers should dominate. In saying that, it won’t be the pure climbers, because of the amount spent on the flat. The likes of Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin, who focus on time trials, need to make up a lot of time on the flat.
There will be also some very keen general classification riders, Richie Porte and Daniel Martin in particular, who will be looking to make big time on their rivals.
With more heavy winds and a chance of rain, it should be a fascinating time trial.
Prediction
It’s a difficult time trial, and for that reason I can’t see Martin or Cancellara taking the win. Tom Dumoulin and Froome have to be the favourites, although Porte, Rohan Dennis, Tejay van Garderen and Vasil Kiryienka all have to be rated chances.
Froome should also hold onto yellow.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 13 from 7:45pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde