*Tour de France - Stage 17* Wednesday 22nd July

Stage 17  »  Digne-Les-Bains  ›  Pra-Loup   (161k)

A repeat of Stage 6 of the Daphine, won by Romain Bardet after a daring attack on the descent of the Col d'Allos


Following yesterday's rest day we have the first and probably the least intimidating of four stages of Alpine climbing. This stage has 5 categorised climbs, but the first two of them are only Cat 3, with a Cat 1 and two Cat 2s, which are the third climb and the final climb at Pra-Loup. There is every likelihood that this stage will be again decided by the descent of the Col d'Allos, as there is every chance of building up a significant gap on the descent and maintaining it on the shortish final climb of Pra Loup, especially if the forecast rain materialises. The stage starts in Digne-les-Bains and heads South East towards the Med in the Nice/Antibes area. The start of the first climb comes after roughly 34km, the Cat 3 Col des Lèques (6km @5.3%). After this climb the riders reach the town of Castellane and head North. Here the riders skirt the outstandingly beautiful Verdon Gorge, where the turqoise-green Verdon forms a river valley through 700m high Limestone cliffs. At St Julien the route turns away from the gorge and towards Vergons. Here the riders reach the second climb, the Cat 3 Col des Toutes Aures (6.1km @ 3.1%). There is a long descent of the Toutes Aures at the bottom of which the riders will turn once again Northwards and head immediately upwards towards the Cat 2 Col de la Colle-Saint-Michel. At 11km @ 5.2% this is a long climb and by the time they have got onto the climb proper they will already have taken on several km of false flat. Following a short descent the riders again find a section of false flat where the intermediate sprint is located. Following the sprint the road goes uphill again, with about another 12km of false flat before the road cranks up further at Allos.

The Cat 1 Col d'Allos is 14km @ 5.5%, but they will have gained over 1100m from the valley floor and the Col d'Allos reaches 2250m. This is not a hard or steep climb, but it is very long. The GC teams should be working hard on this climb, and even if Sky do not ride hard, I would expect Astana, Movistar and Tinkoff to be driving a fast pace to test their rivals after the rest day. The descent from Col d'Allos could be more significant than the climb. Rain looks a distinct possiblity, and this is a long, fast and technical descent with uneven portions of road, and places with adverse camber.


The final climb is Pra Loup, a Cat 2 climb that is 6.2km @ 6.5%. This is the climb that broke Eddy Merckx in 1975 when he was caught and passed by Bernard Thévenet. It starts off fairly easily, with gradients of around 5.5% before getting steeper in the second kilometre. After this the gradient eases, with a few km at or around 6%. The final 1250m or so get steeper with gradients above 8%. This is the second time Pra Loup has been an arrival destination on the Tour. Thévenet won in 1975, and then when the Tour came back in 1980, Jos De Schoenmaecker took the honours. Personally I don't see this as a stage the break wins. It could go right out to 10-15 minutes again, but I think the amount of long climbs on this stage will mean the break getting caught. The GC teams will want to test each other following the rest day and the huge number of long, shallow climbing miles are perfect for the GC teams to drive a fast pace. Descending skills are absolutely paramount, especially if the rains come, and I see Vincenzo Nibali continuing his improving form and taking the stage.