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The penultimate stage of the 2016 Tour De France will see the riders complete their four day battle in the Alps.
This will be the last chance for glory for the general classification men, and the climbing specialists.
The 146.5 kilometre journey from Megeve to Morzine will offer the final opportunity for any changes in the general classification contenders to move up before their positions are locked in at the end of the stage. The four difficult climbs and a tricky descent into Morzine could provide crucial for the riders vying for the podium.
The riders will start out of Megeve, the scene of the finish to the individual time trial on Stage 18.
They will quickly be on the first climb of the day, the 2nd category climb of the Col Des Arvis, which at 6.7 kilometres at average gradient of 6.7 percent should be the easiest on the day’s route.
It is then a short descent of 12 kilometres before the riders go through the intermediate sprint point in the town of Le Grand-Bornand. This also marks the start of the next climb of the day, the 1st category climb of the Col de la Colombiere, which at 11.7 kilometres at 6 percent should be a steady ride.
35 kilometres seperates the summit of the Col de la Colombiere and the next climb on the agenda, the 1st category climb of the Col de la Ramaz. It is the longest climb on the stages route, at 14 kilometres at 7 percent.
A technical descent off this climb will lead into the final climb of the stage, and the penultimate climb Tour, with the Hors category climb of the Col de Joux Plane, which is 11.5 kilometres at over 8.5 percent.
The first half of the climb averages around 7 percent, however, the final 6 kilometres ramp up to over 9.5 percent, with sections above 14 percent.
It will be a difficult final climb on the stage, but may not be as selective as the following descent into the finish in Morzine.
The climb is completed inside the 15 kilometres, and the riders will have an extremely challenging descent to deal with before they hit the finish line. Out of the general classification group, expect Romain Bardet to throw it all on the line on the final descent for another potential stage win.
After attacking on the descent of the penultimate climb yesterday, Bardet will be the favourite to take time today on his general classification favourites. However, today he will be riding to defend a podium position, not to gain one.
Team Sky will once again dominate this stage if they are not attacked. Credit to Astana yesterday for taking some initiative, however, they rode on the front of the bunch for the whole stage, and allowed Sky to only hit the front on the final climb.
One has to question why Astana did not ride like this earlier in the Tour.
It will be interesting to see how Froome pulls up today, having fallen heavily on his knee after crashing on the descent yesterday.
The battle for the podium will be interesting with Bardet as a mentioned, and Nairo Quintana moving ahead of Adam Yates yesterday, who struggled after having to catch back onto the fast moving peloton after needing a bike change before the penultimate stage of last night stage. He is now only nine seconds behind a resurgent Quintana.
Richie Porte is probably the only another person who could get onto the podium, however after crashing on yesterdays stage and dropping time, he will need to make up 50 seconds on Quintana to make his way onto the podium.
However, don’t discount Fabio Aru, who is a further 43 seconds back from Porte.
With rain expected to fall heavily tomorrow, the fun and games of this Tour are certainly not over.
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