The Vuelta a España climbs La Pandera tomorrow. It’s one of several new climbs in the race that are gradually making a name for themselves because of the Vuelta’s spotlight and in time they will become destinations for more than the locals.
La Pandera? It all began thanks to a local teacher who discovered the road was open and decided to visit and thought it was so hard they just had to tell the Vuelta…
The years go by and the result is the same as Chris Froome wins his fourth Tour de France in five years. This year was different with a trio of inseparable riders in the mountains where the contest was so close that they were scrapping over time bonuses, if not to beat Froome then at least to ensure place on the podium. But like last year Froome built his win in the time trials, dominating them in Düsseldorf and dispatching them in Marseille.
An evening sprint where a lot of sprinters who have not won a sprint so far get their last chance.
An urban time trial to show off the best of Marseille, a technical course including the steep climb to the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde. If the mountains and plains can’t separate the top three, today’s course will deliver a final verdict. Ahead of this there’s also the second part of La Course, the women’s race with its pursuit format borrowed from cross-country skiing.
The race leaves the Alps behind for a stage that should see a battle between the breakaway and the sprinters teams because many team have yet to win a stage and this is their last chance.
Will the final mountain stage and its high altitude summit finish be enough to prise apart the overall contenders? This is a double day of racing, tune in to watch La Course and then again to see Le Tour.
The first of two days in the Alps and a giant stage awaits. This year’s race has a theme of short steep climbs but today reverts to a classic Alpine route where duration and altitude matter more than the gradient… and so does the direction of the wind on the final descent because it will either reward or condemn an attack on the Galibier.
The race heads towards the Alps via likely sprint finish but beware the crosswinds on the plains for the last 50km.
2664.5km and 64 hours of racing over more than two weeks and there’s still less than 30 seconds separating the top four riders overall, they’re now closer together on the general classification than they were after the opening time trial Düsseldorf. If the Tour de France is a gradual contest to establish a hierarchy there’s some way to go before the order is settled.
A stage for the breakaway specialists and the strong riders with something left in the legs. The penultimate climb of the Col de Peyra Taillade is tough and includes a steep “short cut” to make it harder still.