Tour de France 2020 | Stage 18 (Méribel - La Roche-sur-Foron, 175 km)

Inquitus

D-Day. This would have been even better as Stage 20, but it's still the most sawtoothed profile of the race... and, in my opinion, the queen stage.

Not much to say but this stage is fecking brutal, can't see a change in the GC, but the break and the time limit could well be interesting if it is raced hard.

Allez Sam!



Map



Profile



Timetable (Local French Time)

Neutralised start: 12:05

Start: 12:30

Intermediate sprint: 12:51/12:52/12:53

Cormet de Roselend: 13:59/14:04/14:12

Côte de la route des Villes: 14:28/14:34/14:44

Col des Saisies: 15:14/15:24/15:38

Col des Aravis: 15:54/16:06/16:22

Montée du plateau des Glières: 16:31/16:46/17:05

Finish: 17:12/17:28/17:50



Climbs

The intermediate sprint comes extremely early into the stage and so the start should be furious. The spike on the profile is obviously BS, but there's still some climbing just after the flag drops.



The first climb of the day is the Cormet de Roselend. Even if this is it's slightly easier side, it's still a solid climb, the breakaway will probably be formed here. There's no real flat from here onwards.



The riders will take a short detour towards the end of it's descent, to climb the Côte de la Route des Villes, the first 3.1k of the profile below.



It's immediately followed by the Col des Saisies. How this is a cat. 2 and the next is a cat. 1 is beyond me...



...because Aravis is twice as easy.



The wall that is the climb to Glières will make or break the day. It should be the last chance for anyone who's not Roglic to take time, let's hope this - and the stage - is raced accordingly...



There's still one uncategorised climb remaining, the Col des Fleuries. The ascent and descent are very similar, consistently at 4-5%.



The descent continues into the final kilometer before the road heads slightly uphill to the finish.



General classification after Stage 17

Primoz Roglic (slo)
Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 0.57
Miguel Ángel López + 1.26
Richie Porte + 3.05
Adam Yates + 3.14
Rigoberto Uran + 3.24
Mikel Landa + 3.27
Enric Mas + 4.18
Tom Dumoulin + 7.23
Alejandro Valverde + 9.31

Points classification after Stage 17

Sam Bennett 278
Peter Sagan 231
Matteo Trentin 218
Bryan Coquard 171
Caleb Ewan 158

Mountains classification after Stage 17

Tadej Pogacar 66
Primoz Roglic 63
Miguel Ángel López 51
Benoît Cosnefroy 36
Pierre Rolland 36

Young riders classification after Stage 17

Tadej Pogacar
Enric Mas + 3.21
Valentin Madouas + 1.24.17
Daniel Felipe Martinez + 1.48.51
Lennard Kämna + 1.52.47

Mefistofelino

That evil little bump shown at around 6-7 km into the stage doesn't actually exist. The race goes through a tunnel but the profile is based on the mountain overhead.

Keeks

From PCS....doesn't show the bump at the start
But still all uphill to the sprint.....

07Lapierre

Anyone who did the Etape in 2018 and 2019 will be familiar with most of these climbs. A savage route!

Macy0161

Sam could nearly close off Sagan, if DQS hold it together to the sprint and repeat the 1-2? 52 point lead, even if Sagan got all from tomorrow?

Then it becomes about the time limit today.

no_4

The sprint comes at only 14km in, it should be the easiest day in theory for Sam to maximise points over Sagan , and then survive the time cut after all the mountain S

happytramp

Macy0161 wrote: »

Sam could nearly close off Sagan, if DQS hold it together to the sprint and repeat the 1-2? 52 point lead, even if Sagan got all from tomorrow?

Then it becomes about the time limit today.

Theoretically, if Sagan were to drop Sam early tomorrow he could gain a total of 70 points from the intermediate and final. Putting Sagan 18 ahead going to Paris.

Tim76

happytramp wrote: »

Theoretically, if Sagan were to drop Sam early tomorrow he could gain a total of 70 points from the intermediate and final. Putting Sagan 18 ahead going to Paris.

I wouldn't be counting any poulettes just yet.

Keeks

happytramp wrote: »

Theoretically, if Sagan were to drop Sam early tomorrow he could gain a total of 70 points from the intermediate and final. Putting Sagan 18 ahead going to Paris.

is it not only 30 points at the finish tomorrow....it is a hilly stage and not a flat stage....

so would only gain 50 tomorrow if he won both stage and sprint?

bazermc

Should we be worried about Sam and cut off time on this stage. Looks absolutely brutally hard.

Macy0161

Keeks wrote: »

is it not only 30 points at the finish tomorrow....it is a hilly stage and not a flat stage....

so would only gain 50 tomorrow if he won both stage and sprint?

That was my assumption too, but just looked and it is down as flat, so happytramp is right.

Keeks

bazermc wrote: »

Should we be worried about Sam and cut off time on this stage. Looks absolutely brutally hard.

No...he is with a quality team who know what they are doing....they will have that calculated to the second....

CrowdedHouse

21 Km neutral #sake

happytramp

I feel BORA are putting all their eggs in the basket for tomorrow's stage and getting max points for Sagan and then hoping Sam doesn't come first in Paris... that'll probably be enough to put Sagan in green.

That said, trying to control tomorrow's stage to the extent that Sagan is first past the post at the intermediate and finish line will be a monumental task.

ratracer

Morkov getting the troops ready for the quick battle!!

no_4

I agree on both counts

happytramp wrote: »

I feel BORA are putting all their eggs in the basket for tomorrow's stage and getting max points for Sagan and then hoping Sam doesn't come first in Paris... that'll probably be enough to put Sagan in green.

That said, trying to control tomorrow's stage to the extent that Sagan is first past the post at the intermediate and finish line will be a monumental task.

ratracer

Looks like Sam has Bob Jungels with him, Sagan has no one..

retalivity

ratracer wrote: »

Looks like Sam has Bob Jungels with him, Sagan has no one..

Think Bora only realising that now....

Can't recall a Grand Tour were I was nervous for intermediate sprints. Easy for Sam. Job done for the day.

De Bhál

Full points for Sam in the intermediate

Trentin 2nd
Sagan 3rd

retalivity

2 more points gained on Sagan, good stuff

Dodge

Job done. Sam wins. Trentin second. Sagan third

Now to make the cut off and it’s a great day

Tim76

Sagan looks like he's not too bothered!

Dodge

retalivity wrote: »

2 more points gained on Sagan, good stuff

5 gained on Sagan. 3 on Trentin

Lead is now 52 points for Sam

mcgratheoin

retalivity wrote: »

2 more points gained on Sagan, good stuff

5 points gained - it's 20, 17, 15 for the first 3 across the line

mr spuckler

Tim76 wrote: »

Sagan looks like he's not too bothered!

No love lost between him and Bennett at all, Trentin was quick to acknowledge Bennett straight after the sprint.

CrowdedHouse

At least Trentin acknowledged Sam

Sam flicking the elbow like mad at De Gendt there to come through as he struggled to hold on to the mini sky train before he pulled out of the line

donfers

where was Morkov today? The guy has been sensational all tour in leading out Sam and taking points off his competitors...first time I haven't seem him at an intermediate sprint in a while

donfers

donfers wrote: »

where was Morkov today? The guy has been sensational all tour in leading out Sam and taking points off his competitors...first time I haven't seem him at an intermediate sprint in a while

I assume they wanted Jungles in the break so two birds maybe.

EDIT: Morkov out the back with Ewan there I see.

tobefrank321

First of two jobs done for Sam, now just to finish within time limit.

Can't see Sagan winning tomorrow or in Paris.

dastardly00

I would guess that they decided to give Morkov an easy start since he will have a good bit of work to do later on in the stage helping Sam. And Jungels can do a decent lead out job and then stay in the breakaway

donfers

Hopefully Morkov is not suffering as Sam will need him tomorrow and Sunday

Sagan out the back of the peloton with Ewan now.

EDIT: They have him in the Alaphilippe group now.

MPFGLB

So Kwaito came on a said there would be no action on GC because everyone will be waiting for TT on Saturday

Then Nico comes on and says the opposite that he can see movement on GC becasue of the type of climbs today ?


Just goes to show cycling os so hard to predict

redlead

Whats Alaphalipes game? He seems to throw himself into every breakaway and for the lack of a better way of putting it, blow his load early for no real reason. It just seems like there is no real strategy for him and he's allowed do what he wants. He's explosive but only in short bursts.

lawrencesummers

A world of pain awaits Sam.
Fair Fawks to him.

Anyone know what the time limit is?

dastardly00

redlead wrote: »

Whats Alaphalipes game? He seems to throw himself into every breakaway and for the lack of a better way of putting it, blow his load early for no real reason. It just seems like there is no real strategy for him and he's allowed do what he wants. He's explosive but only in short bursts.

To use your analogy, maybe he's just really horny :pac:

mr spuckler

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Anyone know what the time limit is?

It won't be known until the end as it's calculated from the finish time of the stage winner.

http://www.velofacts.com/cx-laps/tour-de-france-2020-time-limit-calculator.html

lawrencesummers

Sam and Sagan are going to have each other for company soon...

De Bhál

Griepel gone, one lad less for Bennett to worry about in Paris

lawrencesummers

mr spuckler wrote: »

It won't be known until the end as it's calculated from the finish time of the stage winner.

http://www.velofacts.com/cx-laps/tour-de-france-2020-time-limit-calculator.html

I always wondered how that was calculated. Nice one.

dastardly00

The scenery is amazing

mcgratheoin

Deleted User wrote: »

Sagan out the back of the peloton with Ewan now.

EDIT: They have him in the Alaphilippe group now.

Ewan out the back on his own according to the website - 5 minutes down already. This could be a bridge too far for him today..

Dodge

redlead wrote: »

Whats Alaphalipes game? He seems to throw himself into every breakaway and for the lack of a better way of putting it, blow his load early for no real reason. It just seems like there is no real strategy for him and he's allowed do what he wants. He's explosive but only in short bursts.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. He’s given a free enough role. He’s a classics rider who can climb. To be fair he’s won 5 stages in his last 3 Tours along with the Polka Dot jersey in 2018. Worn yellow for a good few days too

He’s an attacking rider and sometimes they don’t come off but the peloton is much better for riders like him

Mefistofelino

mr spuckler wrote: »

It won't be known until the end as it's calculated from the finish time of the stage winner.

http://www.velofacts.com/cx-laps/tour-de-france-2020-time-limit-calculator.html

The expected winning time today will be around 5 hours, so the cut-off will be around 35 minutes later

lawrencesummers

Online race tracking has Bennett at the back alone, TV just showed Sagan as the rear admiral.

Maybe the mountains are playing havoc with the GPS?

JazzyJ

40 in the gruppetto - already almost 5 minutes down.

Viviani and Coquard going out the back of that.

dastardly00

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Online race tracking has Bennett at the back alone, TV just showed Sagan as the rear admiral.

Maybe the mountains are playing havoc with the GPS?

It's not always reliable. Like there's no way that Caleb Ewan is ahead of Sam on the road

Mefistofelino

Tracker now showing Sam in a group at 5 minutes (3 minutes behind peloton) and two minutes ahead of the Ewen group

North of 32

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Ewan out the back on his own according to the website - 5 minutes down already. This could be a bridge too far for him today..

He did admit in a rest day interview that he's lacking a lot of resilience this year because there was obviously no racing prior to the tour. He said last year he felt himself getting stronger day by day, but this year he's feeling worse and worse as the race goes on. Having said all that I reckon he'll be there in Paris.