Stage 18 of the Tour sees the riders battle it out once again in the ‘race of truth’. After a difficult but fairly unselective day yesterday, the general classification contenders will not be able to follow the wheels of their fellow contenders, something which the majority have done all Tour long.
The 17-kilometre individual time trial starts along flat roads for the first four kilometres, after setting out from the town of Sallanches. However, from this point until the final few kilometres, the riders will be climbing, and the general classification men will come to the front. This is not a stage for the likes of time trial specialists like Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellera.
From the four-kilometre point the road rises to its steepest and most difficult of the stage, with the riders contending with around 2.5 kilometres at over ten per cent, with some sections above 15 per cent. However the next kilometre allows some respite, as it is only a false flat of around 1.5 per cent before the riders start the long gradual climb up to the stage’s highest point in altitude.
From the eight-kilometres point on the stage, to the 15-kilometres point, the road goes up fairly gradually, averaging around five per cent over the seven kilometres period, with sections above eight per cent.
The final two kilometres of the stage will see the riders descend down into the town of Megeve for the finish of the stage.
With the nature of the climbs on today’s course, I would be surprised to see any of the riders using time trial bikes, however, a few of the riders may use the clip on bars on their normal road bike, to get into a more aero position for the flatter sections of the course.
Chris Froome will be once again tough to beat, however, Tom Dumoulin may be the only time trial specialist that could contend on a stage like this, having already won two stages of the race – one to the top of the Arcalis on Stage 10, and then on the only other time trial of the race on Stage 13.
After a difficult stage yesterday, most of the general classification men will be hoping to not concede too much time to their rivals.
Riders to watch out for today: Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Fabio Aru, Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Serge, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Daniel Martin (Etixx-Quickstep) and Adam Yates (Orica BikeExchange).
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