Tour de France Stage 2: A Wake-Up Call in the Mountains
Stage 2 - Nice Haut Pays to Nice - 186km - Sunday, August 30
Stage 2 will serve as a wake-up call for many riders, as the 2020 Tour de France heads into the heart of the Maritime Alps for an early dose of high mountains.
The stage begins just off the Promenade des Anglais, not far from the Stage 1 finish, then heads down the coast before turning north into the Var River valley for a long ride to the base of the day’s first major summit, the Category 1 Col de la Colmiane (16.3km at 6.3 percent grade). If it hasn’t already happened on the drag up the valley, the race will certainly ignite here as riders launch themselves off the front in a bid to take the King of the Mountains points available at the top of the Tour’s first big summit.
The road descends from the top of the Colmiane right to the base of the day’s second high mountain, the Category 1 Col de Turini (14.9km at 7.4 percent grade). Much steeper than the Colmiane, the peloton should splinter here, with a smaller, more selective group featuring stage and General Classification contenders pulling away from the rest of the bunch.
A long descent from the top of the Turini takes the race back to Nice for two finishing circuits featuring the two short climbs that should determine the outcome of the stage: the Category 2 Col d'èze and the Col des Quatre Chemins (which is technically the same climb, but shorter). It’s here that the stage should be decided, with the Tour’s GC contenders just doing their best to remain safe and within sight of one another on the circuits’ technical roads. Luckily, the weather is expected to be much better than Stage 1—sunny with only a 20 percent chance of rain.
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Riders to Watch
This is the earliest we can remember seeing high mountains in the Tour. That said, we expect them to do little more than soften the legs of the favorites and eliminate the sprinters from contention for the stage victory. Instead, the action will all go down on the two finishing circuits around the Col d'èze, which might remind fans of the final stage of Paris-Nice, a March stage race that often features the climb on its final stage.
A short, punchy climb that the riders summit at 33km and 9km from the finish line, the Col d'èze offers the perfect opportunity for attacks. As such it’s a perfect finish for Classics riders like Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe, Lotto-Soudal’s Philippe Gilbert, and Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert (if he’s not charged with protecting his team’s GC contenders). And let’s not forget the seemingly ageless Alejandro Valverde of Movistar. The 40-year-old hasn’t won a stage at the Tour since 2012, but he would love to add one more before calling it a career (whenever he decides to do so).
As far as the GC battle is concerned, keep an eye on Astana’s Miguel ángel López and Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot, who both crashed heavily on Stage 1. A stage through the mountains is the worst thing for a rider hoping to recover from a crash, as the constant tempo changes due to accelerations and attacks wreaks havoc on bruised muscles and road rash. So while López, Pinot, and others seemingly finished Stage 1 with no major injuries, the lingering effects from their falls could cause them to struggle.
When to Watch
Don’t worry about watching the riders tackle the day’s two Category 1 summits; there’s still plenty of climbing left to watch in this year’s Tour. Instead, tune-in around 10:45 a.m. EDT to watch the two finishing circuits over the Col d’Eze, the climb that will determine the stage outcome.
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