Stages You Won’t Want to Miss at the 2020 Tour de France
Stages You Won’t Want to Miss at the 2020 Tour de France
After being postponed because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Tour de France is now scheduled to take place between August 29 and September 20—and after a year like this, we can’t wait. Beginning in Nice with two tough stages in the Maritime Alps followed by the Tour’s first summit finish only two days later, this year’s mountainous, unpredictable course will give the riders chances to catch their breath—which means your September just got a lot more interesting. Here’s a look at five stages we can’t wait to see.
Stage 6 - September 3 - Le Teil to Mont Aigoual - 191K
The Rider, written by Dutch author Tim Krabbé, is perhaps the greatest book about bike racing that we’ve ever read. The story of a fictional race through the Cévennes region of southern France, it’s told through the eyes of one of the event’s competitors, a protagonist who manages to perfectly express much of what we love about the sport. But while the book and the race were works of fiction, the region’s beauty is quite real with deep gorges, steep climbs, and lush forests. Stage 6 of the 2020 Tour takes us there, with a tough finish atop Mont Aigoual, the climb that gave Krabbé’s fictional race—the “Tour de Mont Aigoual”—its name. And not only will this stage be beautiful, but since it comes only two days after the Tour’s first summit finish on Stage 4 (one of the earliest summit finishes in Tour history), it could impact the Tour’s General Classification as well—especially for any overall contenders still searching for form.
Stage 13 - September 11 - Chatel-Guyon to Puy Mary - 191K
A long-ish stage at 191K, Stage 13 takes the race through the heart of the Massif Central, a hilly region in the center of southern France known for steep climbs, windswept plateaus, and hot weather. With the most elevation gain (4,400 meters) of any stage in the 2020 Tour, this stage will challenge the riders with lots of categorized and uncategorized climbs leading up to a summit finish atop the Puy Mary, an extinct volcano that attracts thousands of visitors each year. And with lots of tight, technical roads, the team with the yellow jersey will definitely have a hard time controlling the race and defending its lead.
Stage 15 - September 13 - Lyon to Grand Colombier - 175K
This stage heads into the Jura—the fourth of the five mountain ranges visited by the 2020 Tour de France—with an unprecedented finish atop the Grand Colombier, a steep climb with four different—and challenging—roads to the summit. In fact, each year local cyclists organize a ride that loops together all four ascents in a particularly sadistic celebration of the mountain. The 2020 Tour won’t complete the pyramid, but it will tackle the Grand Colombier from three of the four approaches: the Montee de la Selle de Fromentel with pitches of 22 percent; the Col de la Biche with an average gradient of 8.9 percent; and the final climb of the “proper” Grand Colombier, which is the longest (17.4K) climb of the three. Without a doubt, this is one of the toughest stages of the entire 2020 Tour, one that will test both the legs—lots of tough climbs—and the nerves—almost as many hair-raising descents—of Tour’s GC contenders.
Stage 17 - September 16 - Grenoble to Méribel (Col de la Loze) - 168K
After a quick visit to the Alps during the first four stages, the race loops back into the famous mountain range near the end of the Tour’s final week for three difficult stages that should go a long way toward deciding the overall winner. Of these, Stage 17—with a summit finish on the new Col de la Loze—stands-out the most. The Tour famously visited the Méribel ski resort in 1973 when Frenchman Bernard Thevenet won the stage but was unable to gain significant time on Spain’s Luis Oca?a, who had taken the yellow jersey during a stage earlier in the morning (once upon a time, the riders often raced two stages in a day) and went on to win the Tour.
The race hasn’t been back since, but the construction of a new cyclists-only roadway from the resort to the summit of the nearby Col de la Loze has given the organizers a good reason to return. The new roadway adds another 7K to the climb, most of which is steeper than 10 percent—with some pitches topping-out at 20 percent. One of the highest paved roads in France, the Col is easily the highest summit in the entire 2020 Tour. To make matters worse, the riders will tackle the vicious summit finish after climbing the equally-fierce Col de la Madeleine, making Stage 17 a day for only the Tour’s best climbers. We can’t wait!
Stage 20 - September 19 - Mantes la Jolie to La Planche des Belles Filles - 36km (ITT)
Since its debut in 2012, the climb of la Planche des Belles Filles has almost always had a major impact on the Tour de France with three of the four riders who have worn the yellow jersey after climbing it going on to win the race overall. Thanks to its location in the Vosges mountains of northeastern France, the climb is often tackled in the middle of the first week, while the race winds its way down toward the Alps or across the center of France toward the Pyrenees. But the 2020 Tour has two tricks up its sleeve: first, the climb is included late in the Tour—at the end of Stage 20—making it the final summit finish of the 2020 Tour.
But second and more importantly, the climb comes at the end of a 36K individual time trial, the first time the ascent has been used in such fashion. But here’s the thing: while the 6K climb with an average gradient of 8.5 percent finishes-off the stage, there are about 30K of flat to undulating roads leading to its base. That means pure climbers like Egan Bernal will have less of an advantage over all-rounders like Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin. Time trials often deliver an anticlimactic denouement when run on the Tour’s penultimate day. But this one—which is also the only time trial in the entire 2020 Tour—should deliver an exciting conclusion.
Since its debut in 2012, the climb of la Planche des Belles Filles has almost always had a major impact on the Tour de France with three of the four riders who have worn the yellow jersey after climbing it going on to win the race overall. Thanks to its location in the Vosges mountains of northeastern France, the climb is often tackled in the middle of the first week, while the race winds its way down toward the Alps or across the center of France toward the Pyrenees. But the 2020 Tour has two tricks up its sleeve: first, the climb is included late in the Tour—at the end of Stage 20—making it the final summit finish of the 2020 Tour; but second and more importantly, the climb comes at the end of a 36K individual time trial, the first time the ascent has been used in such fashion.
But this is by no means an uphill time trial: while the 6K climb with an average gradient of 8.5 percent finishes-off the stage, there are about 30K of flat to undulating roads leading to its base. That means pure climbers like Egan Bernal will have less of an advantage over time trialists like Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas (his INEOS teammates), and Jumbo-Visma’s Tom Dumoulin. Time trials often deliver an anticlimactic denouement when run on the Tour’s penultimate day. But this one—which is also the only time trial in the entire 2020 Tour—should bring the 2020 race to an exciting conclusion.
We can’t wait to watch these five stages of the 2020 Tour de France.