The Tour de Suisse holds a prominent position among the year's stage races, serving as the ultimate test before the Tour de France. From June 9th to 16th, this eight-day event in Switzerland attracts several stars of the Tour, featuring challenging mountain stages, time trials, and opportunities for classics specialists. Let's preview stage 3 of the race.
An incredibly explosive day towards the end. This is a stage that resembles the Ardennes, and will certainly be very interesting for the spectators. In Steinmaur, the riders start a 162-kilometer day on the bike which is mostly flat in it's majority but then faces quite a few hills in the final 40 kilometers - none categorized. The first of which is 4.1 kilometers at 5.2% summiting with 32 kilometers to go, but it will be a mere warm-up.
A possible key point of the stage is the quick sequence of two medium-difficulty ascents that follow, already close to the finish. They are 3Km at 6.7% (14Km to go) and 2.4Km at 5.8% (9Km to go). Right after their summit comes a short and steep descent, not very technical, that leaves the riders with a mere 3 kilometers to go.
But the way into the finish line is not flat nor simple. There is a small hilltop that goes up to 8% that ends with around 2 kilometers to go. Then, after a sharp corner, the riders face the final hilltop into the finish which is only 800 meters long but averages 7.7%. An interesting finish, where a lot can happen.
The Map
Prediction Tour de Suisse 2024 stage 2:
*** Arnaud De Lie, Michael Matthews
** Bryan Coquard, Maxim van Gils, Axel Laurance
* Stephen Williams, Tom Pidcock, Alberto Bettiol, Marc Hirschi, Mattias Skjelmose, Rui Costa, Richard Carapaz, Finn Fisher-Black, Kévin Vauquelin, Brandon Rivera
Pick: Michael Matthews
Place comments
0 Comments
You are currently seeing only the comments you are notified about, if you want to see all comments from this post, click the button below.
Show all comments