The real mountains have finally arrived.
It is time for the general classification battle to really kick off and what a battle it is going to be over the next two days. Tadej has lost one of his leading generals in the mountains, George Bennett who tested positive for Covid during the rest day, Rafael Majka isn’t 100% and the rest of his entourage isn’t that well equipped to protect him on the two merciless HC climbs we have to finish the day.
The day starts flat with an intermediate sprint after 16.5km. We hit our first bump after 46km with a steep 3.4km@8.2% Cat 2 challenge.
Roll on to 70km and the real race starts with an 11.9km@7.1% Cat 1 test however the race doesn’t descend into the valley and after a short 5km decent we head to the highest point of this year’s tour at 2642m above sea level on the Col du Galibier 17.7km@6.9%.
A 35km decent leads us to the final climb that we think will be the decider, the Col du Granon is a monster at 11.3km@9.2% and is steeper than Alpe de Huez, it will shatter many GC hopes today.
We will likely see both Jumbo and Ineos send satellite riders up the road to help should the need arise later in the stage. UAE will have to be on the defensive the whole day but will have to wisely choose which attacks to close down as both Ineos and Jumbo have many aces up their sleeves.
We have seen Tadej singlehandedly win the tour, however we haven’t seen him defend against such strong odds. He will most likely come through the stage but not unscathed as this is prime Jonas Vingegaard territory and we could potentially even see a change in the Yellow Jersey, although this is unlikely.
Our Top Picks:
Joans Vingegaard
Tadej Pogacar
Outside Picks:
Geraint Thomas
Adam Yates
Nairo Quintana
Our Winner:
Joans Vingegaard
