Everything you need to know about the 2021 Tour de France mountains

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The 108e Edition of the Tour de France will start on June 26. The race will cover 3,383 kilometers through windswept plains and mountain peaks in the seaside town of Brest, in Brittany, until the finish in Paris.

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The 2021 route will likely favor a powerful GC rider thanks to his nearly doubled time trial kilometers from 36 km in 2020 to 58 km in 2021. Although there are only three top finishes in this Tour This year, the mountains that the race will tackle are some of the tallest and tallest in France.

This year, the peloton will ride higher than in previous editions reaching an altitude of 2408 m in Port d’Envalira during stage 14, with a total of 27 climbs, against 29 in 2020, a record.

The summit hour bonuses, which were introduced in 2019, return this summer. The second general ranking bonuses will be strategically placed on six climbs throughout the Tour. The first bonus opportunity falls on the first ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne during the second stage. The top three runners will be awarded 8, 5 and 2 seconds respectively. Those bonus seconds reliably attract contenders to GC, giving way to thrilling mid-race battles on key climbs.

The last two editions of the Tour have been won with slim margins of around a minute, with Tadej Pogačar winning by a 59-second gap last season, the closest margin since Greg Lemond’s 8-second victory in 1989. on Laurent Fignon.

As well as being the youngest Tour de France champion in 111 years old at the age of 22, UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar also won the best young rider and king of the mountain ranking in 2020.

Bonus point tops:

  • Stage 2: Mûr-de-Bretagne, first passage
  • Stage 7: Signal d’Uchon
  • Stage 8: Col de la Colombière
  • Stage 11: Mont Ventoux, second passage
  • Stage 14: Col de Saint-Louis
  • Stage 15: Col de Beixalis

Overall, there are fewer Category 2, 3 and 4 climbs in the Tour’s six major mountain stages. KOM points are doubled for the three finishes at the top of stages 9, 17 and 18.

Although stage 7 is not considered a mountain stage, the riders will face Le Signal d’Uchon, a 5.7-kilometer-long never-used climb that sits at 230 kilometers in the longest stage of the Tower. Although not listed among the Tour’s mountain stages, the climb should generate interest in the overall standings due to the bonus seconds offered.

The iconic Mont Ventoux will be presented twice for the first time in its history on stage 11 for what should be an epic battle for the GC.

Read on to discover the six major mountain stages of the 2021 Tour de France.

Stage 8: Oyonnax – Le Grand-Bornand, 151 km

The first mountain stage of the Tour begins in Oyonnax, seven years after Tony Gallopin’s solo victory in 2014. The stage follows on from the seventh stage of 248 kilometers and kicks off a double alpine header.

On the eighth stage, the peloton will face the emblematic first ascent of the Tour РLe Col de Colombi̬re. French fans will remember the arrival at Le Grand-Bornand, where current world champion Julian Alaphilippe claimed his first Tour de France stage victory of his career in 2018, winning the stage by more one minute ahead of Ion Izagirre.

This time, the route will include two previous climbs starting with the Côte de Mont-Saxonnex with a 960m drop, 5.7 km long with a maximum drop of 8.3%. Followed by the Col de Romme with a length of 8.8 km with the steepest slopes of the day at 8.9%, before facing the 7.5 km long, the Col de Colombière. The trio of alpine climbs takes place less than 20 km before the descent to the finish in Le Grand Bornand.

Stage 9: Cluses – Tignes, 145 km

The Tour keeps its promise to return to Tignes, a mountain town that the Tour failed to reach during the 19th stage of the Tour de France 2019. The stage, cut short due to a hailstorm and landslides field, put Egan Bernal in the yellow jersey, thanks to his attack on the Col de l’Iseran. He would become the first Latin American to win the Tour de France.

The ninth stage is the first of three top finishes of this year’s Tour. It’s followed by the first day of rest, so don’t expect anyone to save their legs in the final.

After the first 20 kilometers of flat, the first of the five classified climbs planned for the day РC̫te de Domancy Рwhich will probably see a breakaway should be established.

The Col de Pré will see its second inclusion in the Tour, after a 17.5 km descent to Beaufort before the road goes up. The final climb to Tignes ends at 2,113 m after a long climb of 21 km. The average grade is set at 5.6%, those fighting for victory and the precious bonus seconds will have a break halfway up the climb where it flattens out for about 2.5km. The total height difference for the stage will be 4,400 m.

Stage 11: Sorgues РMalauc̬ne, 199km (Mont Ventoux)

From his first inclusion in the tour in 1951 to the tragic loss of Tom Simpson in 1967, the stage victories of Eddie Merckx and Marco Pantani, to the controversial crash and the race to the top involving Chris Froome in 2016, the legendary “ Giant of Provence ” will make its mark once again in the Tour in 2021.

The peloton will climb Mont Ventoux twice during the 11th stage for the first time in the history of the Tour so that the Tour salutes the local government which has rearranged the summit specifically for cyclists.

The painful winds and the second ascent of Bédoin will punish the protagonists of the day, with an average of 8.8% over 15.7 km, rewarding the first three with time bonuses for their efforts. The day ends with a descent to Malaucène. The last stage winner was Thomas De Gendt in 2016.

Stage 15: C̩ret РAndorra-La-Vielle, 192 km

The Tour ventures out of France on stage 15 to end in the Provence of Andorra, home to many professional cyclists.

The Tour last visited Andorra in 2016, when Tom Dumoulin won amid a hailstorm. Stage 15 is the day when the race director, Christian Prudhomme, believes that the classification of the king of the mountain will be crowned.

The peloton will face four category climbs, reaching the climax of this year’s Tour at the Port d’Envalira at Souvenir Henri Desgrange, a summit at 2,408 meters above sea level.

After a final ascent of the Col de Beixalis, where time bonuses are again offered to the first three at the top, the race will descend to the capital of Andorra where the stage ends, and where the peloton will then spend their second rest. day.

Stage 17: Muret – Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet, 178km

The Tour is still planning a special stage for July 14, and this year’s Stage 17 will be no exception. The slopes of the Col du Portet were first tackled in 2018, when Colombian Nairo Quintana took the solo victory in spectacular fashion. He remains the only winner of the 6 km summit (8.6%).

After 113 relatively flat kilometers, the peloton will tackle two large mountains, the Peyresourde and the Val Louron-Azet.

The second finish at the top of the Tour will then be contested on the ruthless Col du Portet, 16 km long. Gradients stay above 8%, as the road winds through steep hairpin bends and rough tarmac before climbing up to 10% for the brutal final.

Stage 18: Pau – Luz Ardiden, 130 km

The pressure is strong when the peloton arrives in Pau for stage 18. It is the day when the KOM jersey will be decided, and it is the last opportunity for the contenders for the general classification to attack before the counter-la- individual watch from step 20.

The stage will climb two giants of the Pyrenees, the Col du Tourmalet and for the first time in a decade, the Luz Ardiden.

Samuel Sanchez won this summit for the last time as Olympic road champion in 2011, narrowly beating Belgium’s Jelle Vanendert for Lotto Soudal, in a fierce battle that ended in the last 300 meters.

The Tourmalet is the highest cobbled pass in all of France with a summit reaching 2,115m, celebrating its 84e participation in the Tour in July. Stage 18 will conclude the last of the three summit finishes. 2020 Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar (United Arab Emirates) said of the top arrivals: “I would have liked a bit more, but, anyway, I expect some exciting races like still in the Tour. ”

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