Sure cuts a lot 5 pro crack1/17/2024 ![]() ![]() Overall it’s a tough climb but with an irregular gradient, often over 10% and a 50 minute effort. Then another respite where there’s even a brief descent and then it’s over the cattle grid and out of the trees and here the road rises up again all the way to the line. Then the road rears up again, there’s one hairpin but otherwise it’s a long straight section with more 10-12% slopes. Next there’s brief respite with a flatter part and a chance to put it in the big ring as the road heads into the woodland. Ignore the 7% average, this is a climb in five parts, first the steep section straight out of town and to the lacets hairpins and beyond, there’s lots of 10% sections here to force an early selection and the rocks radiate back heat. But it’s yet to be very selective, riders get dropped but nobody strikes out alone for a solo stage win. On paper this is a beast of a climb comparable in raw stats to the Galibier from Valloire and although without altitude, it’s got attitude and views galore. It was a summit finish in 2020 and again climbs this “classic” side, from Culoz via the lacets. The Finish: the Grand Colombier’s a relatively new climb in the Tour de France, first used in 2012 and several times since, climbing different routes to the top. There’s a small climb over the Col de la Lèbe and then a long descent on a big road with nothing too technical and it’s back down to the valley floor and 10km to eat and drink before the mighty Grand Colombier. There’s the climb to Hauteville out of the valley and up the Plateau d’Hauteville, it’s not steep with 10km at 4.5% but has all the visual cues of a climb as it hugs the cliff edge to rise up making for an unusual approach to the intermediate sprint. ![]() In a Tour that’s already celebrated Luis Ocaña, André Darrigade and Raymond Poulidor, this is the place where Roger Pingeon used to work as an apprentice plumber before turning pro and winning the Tour de France. It’s flat all the way to Tenay but the profile doesn’t tell the whole story, first it’s across plains and wetland and then after Ambérieu it’s into the Albarine valley, a river valley, a canyon where the cliffs loom above but the road is very even and flat as it passes many old mills and factories on the way to Tenay, a section of road that will be ridden in the opposite direction on Stage 18. The Route: 137.8km and 2,410m of vertical gain. Their kit looked sharp, the bike elegant and Izagirre was away solo for their second stage win. ![]() Izagirre was away and all of a sudden Cofidis looked in control as Guillaume Martin marked the moves. He took 30 seconds at the pass and the chase behind struggled to get going. After being dropped, Ion Izagirre got back on and seemed to take a long pull at the start of the Col de la Croix Rosier to help his team mate Guillaume Martin close in on Matteo Jorgenson and Thibaut Pinot who themselves had MvdP in their sights, only he kept piling on the pressure and then attacked in person and nobody could follow. ![]() Mathieu van der Poel attacked the break, he needed to build up a cushion for the final climbs but it wasn’t sufficient. The other question was Tiesj Benoot up front, a lot of energy for someone crucial to the yellow jersey in the coming long weekend but the team seems happy to give riders a shot but it’s notable that UAE looked more cohesive. It took the best part of two hours before the breakaway went clear.Īg2r Citroën took up the chase, seemingly because Thibaut Pinot was up the road and if he took time then Ben O’Connor and Felix Gall might find it harder to crack the top-10, a move that looked like a punishment chase for missing the move. It’s no criticism of him or the others, indeed we should celebrate the incendiary activities where many were making huge efforts just to open up a few seconds on the peloton in the hope they could then hitch a ride on the right wagon. Mads Pedersen was on the attack from the start but his move was like many to follow, a huge expenditure of energy that didn’t deliver. The battle raged to get into the breakaway and it was part bike race, part forest fire. The Grand Colombier awaits and it’s 14 July, Bastille day, so expect big crowds on the roads.Ĭ’est beau, le Beaujolais: this Tour seems to have thrown up more highlights of the year than the rest of the year so far and the stage didn’t disappoint, a day where it’d be hard to fit the highlights onto a DVD but if they did, you’d want to buy the DVD… and the accompanying DVD player. A summit finish stage and after the Pyrenees, the first long ascent to the finish line. ![]()
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