Tour de France Stage 20 Preview

A last hurrah in the mountains with a short and lively stage in the Vosges. There’s a prestigious stage win, places in the top-10 in play, the polka dot jersey is still up for grabs with Felix Gall able to challenge Giulio Ciccone, unless Jonas Vingegaard runs away with everything.

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Roads to Ride: the Col du Petit Ballon

There are more famous places in the Vosges mountains but this is probably the hardest climb on Stage 20 of the Tour de France. It’s also a quiet side road while many of the other climbs in the Vosges are bigger and even crowded at times.

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Tour de France Stage 18 Preview

Like Wordsworth leaving the Alps, there’s always a moment of melancholy when the Tour de France turns its back on the mountains, even if Saturday’s Vosges stage holds out a last hurrah on the way to Paris.

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The Alps vs. Pyrenees

These two mountain ranges have their differences but the Tour de France can struggle to explore the subtleties. If you’re faced with trying to pick one over the other, it’s less one versus the other and more about where within each range you go.

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Tour de France Stage 17 Preview

The Queen stage in the Alps and we’ll see if Tadej Pogačar is mentally hungover today or has “ants in his legs” as they say in French. There will be a big battle for the breakaway.

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Tour de France Stage 16 Preview

Did you spend the rest day staring at tea leaves to see if you could spot a likeness of Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard or staring at clouds to see their shape might give us a clue? Today the pair are forcibly separated by regulation with this short, sharp time trial.

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Tour de France Stage 15 Preview

After yesterday’s frantic stage, a flat route along a valley with scenic views of a meandering river and some châteaux-vision today would do nicely to calm the nerves. But no, another big day in the Alps awaits that’ll have viewers perched on the edge of their sofas like cyclists on the nose of the saddle, all anticipating a chink of daylight between Vingegaard and Pogačar. The duel continues.

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