Tour de France 2021: Sparks established to fly as GC battle moves to the mountains
It will be a circumstance of who can again up the greatest from a marathon in stage 7 and a litany of crashes and accidents by way of the initial week of the race.
The System
The 150.8 kilometre journey sets off from Oyonnax with a largely flat very first stanza punctuated by the intermediate dash in Frangy, certain to be contested yet again by inexperienced jersey leader Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) as he appears to be to even further prolong his advantage. The climbing pleasurable starts with the Cote de Copponex (6.5 kilometres at 4.4%), a class 3 ascent to heat up the legs adopted by the class 4 Cote de Menthonnex-en-Bornes (2.7 kilometres at 4.9%).
A humid 23 degree day with scattered showers predicted, rain may possibly make an currently challenging experience even harder, as the riders shift into the to start with serious take a look at up the Cote de Mont-Saxonnex (5.7 kilometres at 8.3%) the 1st of 3 category 1 ascents.
Virtually quickly soon after that descent looms the twin terrors of the Col de Romme (8.8 kilometres at 8.9%) and Col de la Colombiere (7.5 kilometres at 8.5%), a downhill section of 5.5 kilometres at the base of the Colombiere basically producing for one particular enormous climb involving the two.
The Romme/Colombiere climb combo returns for the initial time since the 2018 Tour, when Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) gained his to start with phase at the race, cresting the two peaks to solo house a minute and 34 seconds ahead of Ion Izagirre. Once once more, the stage will get in touch with for a huge energy to provide residence victory, or make up valuable minutes and seconds towards bids for the maillot jaune.
The contenders
It is really no key the phase will belong to the climbers, with a host of names looking to make their mark. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) will pull on yellow once more, whilst it’s going to be a lot more hard to hold off the likes of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) and 2020 winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) who can all excel on the climbs.
Other hopefuls incorporate Alaphilippe, looking to get closer to yellow soon after surrendering it in stage 2, Enric Mas (Movistar), Rigoberto Uran (EF Instruction Nippo) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
One more rider who could also have a significant working day is Miguel Angel Lopez (Movistar) the established climber who soloed to victory on the Col de La Loze in past year’s queen stage and requirements a good consequence to climb out of 31st in GC.
The phase could also see Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic), Daniel Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Simon Yates (Staff BikeExchange), have a coming out bash on the steep slopes soon after enduring a quiet get started to the race.
It really is certain to be a situation of no discomfort, no get for the phase hopefuls as they’re going to have to dig deep to conquer the 1st of the mountains with far more to observe in the coming times as the race ramps up a few notches.
The Tour de France carries on with the very first mountain phase of the race with the Col de la Colombiere the final climb of the working day before a descent in Grand Bornand. Enjoy the race from 20:30 AEST on SBS and SBS On Need, with the racing commencing on the SKODA Tour Tracker from 21:00 AEST.
