After a foray into the hills of Auvergne, the Tour de France peloton finds flattening thanks to the eleventh stage, 180 kilometers long, between Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) and Moulins (Allier). Almost flat, because the day’s route still has three listed difficulties: the Chaptuzat-Haut coast (1.9 kilometers at 5%, 4And category), the Mercurol coast (2.9 kilometers at 4.6%, 4And category) and the Côte de la Croix-Blanche (1.6 kilometers at 5.4%, 4And category).
“Although the roads of the Allier impose insidious wear on the calves with repeated ‘breaking’ climbs, the final 1,300m straight in the heart of the city will be available to sprinters”, predicts Christian Prudhomme, the head of the event. After his successes in Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Nogaro (Gers) and Bordeaux (Gironde), will Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) continue his foray? Will Wout van Aert be able to get his hands on a win? Will the other sprinters, including Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick-Step), shine? Answers will arrive around 5.20pm
Contribute
The contributions area is reserved for subscribers.
Sign up to access this discussion space and contribute to the discussion.