The 2024 Tour de France is set to be a distinctive edition, commencing with its Grand Depart in Florence and Emilia-Romagna, just across the Italian border. For the first time in many years, the race will culminate away from Paris, as riders head to Nice for the grand finale. Spanning from June 29th to July 21st, let's delve into what awaits on the upcoming stage.
The race is back into the mountains and there is no warming up. The Tour keeps it's modern traditional formula, with a short stage featuring a flat start. So it will be very hard for a breakaway to stand any chances. The GC riders are likely to fight for the win in a day including the Col du Tourmalet, Hourquette d'Ancizan and finally a summit finish on the Pla d'Adet which is over 10 kilometers long at 8%.
The start of the day is... Completely flat, nothing even noteworthy. Most riders will likely just wait until the mountains to really kick off the action, but this is a day where a breakaway is likely doomed because the strong climbers don't have the opportunity to make a difference early in the day. With 70 kilometers of racing, into the second half of the day, the climbing starts and with a big one!
The Col du Tourmalet is the most used climb in Tour de France history and it returns to the menu of the first Pyreneen stage. It is 18.9 kilometers long at a stable 7.4%. A constant climb, an effort of over 45 minutes in steep gradients which will put many into difficulty. For the pure climbers this is close to heaven, and the top is at over 2100 meters of altitude so that statement is not just figurative...
The riders hit the summit with 62.5 kilometers to go and descend off the other side, very quickly they reach the second ascent of the day. The "easiest", it's the Hourquette d'Ancizan which summits with only 28.5 kilometers to go. It's 8.2 kilometers long at just over 5% but this does actually include a whole downhill kilometer. Most of the climb is within the 7/8% gradients, but don't expect attacks here, only more pace setting and preparation for the final climb.
It will be on the Pla d'Adet where all the action is expected. 10.6 kilometers ay 8%, it's a difficult climb and also a bit of a shock to the system because the hardest section is the first half of the climb which averages around 10%. A brute, and you can make serious differences here without a shadow of a doubt. The gradients are slightly lower in the second half, the climbers can do some of it in the big ring, but the damage will have been done closer to the base with certainty.
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Prediction Tour de France 2024 stage 14:
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