TDF 2017: 14 July - Stage 13 - Saint-Girons - Foix 101kms *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Start 14h45
Fireworks expected on Bastille Day

Friday, 14 July 2017 - Stage 13 in the Tour de France brings an explosive 101 kilometres race through the Pyrenees. After cresting three cols the riders plunge down at full speed to finish in Foix.

The 14th of July is Bastille Day, so we should expect a lot of French riders to go on the attack. Actually, we can expect a lot of attacks overall, as this is usually the case in such short stages. The riders will definitely need their climbing legs, and a proper warming up as the race will explode from the start.

The first climb is Col de Latrape, which is 5.6 kilometres at 7.3%. Around halfway, the riders stumble upon the steepest sector at 10.6%. The pass was also in the 2011 Tour de France when Sandy Casar was first to crested.

When the riders hit the valley after a 5 kilometres drop it goes back up again. Col d’Agnes is a 10 kilometres drag at 8% with steepest sections of more than 10% right at the base of the climb. So that is quite some welcome. Kilometre 8 is easiest with an average slope of ‘merely’ 4.9%. That’s a short relief though as the road continues in familiar fashion – steep.

The best is saved for last as the third climb, Mur de Péguère, is a killer. At 9.3 kilometres, the average percentage of 7.9% may look fairly doable, yet is is the build-up that will do the damage here. The first six kilometres go up steadily, but then all hell breaks loose with one kilometre of 13% on average and a steepest sector at 18%. What comes next is hardly any better and it’s only at the top that the riders will be out of their misery.

After cresting the 1,375 metres peak a 27 kilometres long descent takes them 1,000 metres down to the finish line in Foix. It’s the third time the Tour de France will finish in this Pyrenees village. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (2008) and Luis León Sánchez (2012) were the previous winners. In fact, the finale in 2012 was played out virtually the same route as today. Sánchez attacked shortly before cresting the Mur de Péguère and he held off the chasers until the finish line in Foix.

Map:-


Profile:-


KoM:-
Km 31.0 - Col de Latrape (1 110 m)5.6 kilometre-long climb at 7.3% - category 1

Km 46.5 - Col d'Agnes (1 570 m)10 kilometre-long climb at 8.2% - category 1

Km 74.0 - Mur de Péguère (1 375 m)9.3 kilometre-long climb at 7.9% - category 1





Last Kms:-



Saint-Girons

Thanks to its position at the heart of several Pyrenean valleys, Saint-Girons has a vocation to be on the course of the Tour de France, either during the stage or as a start city. That's indeed what happened on five occasions since 1984, including during the 100th edition where on the road to Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Christopher Froome had seen his dominance challenged. Meanwhile, at the front of the race Dan Martin was performing quite a show. The Irishman maneuvered in style against Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang on his way to his first victory on the Tour




Foix

The two stage finishes of the Tour judged in Foix rewarded audacious riders who made the best of breakaways. It was the case back in 2008 for Norwegian Kurt Asle Arvesen who had managed to outpace his two last rivals on the road, Italian Alessandro Ballan and Swiss Martin Elmiger after a final intense explanation. But the stage of the day will also remind good memories to Luis Leon Sanchez.
Indeed, the Spanish rider both won in Saint-Girons in 2009 and Foix in 2012.

above_the_cows

Oh Blazers!

Lanterne_Rogue

Stage 13: so good we're starting it twice?

blazing_saddles

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Oh AtC. Great minds again, but I won by 5 minutes.

Transfer all the good (funny) stuff over and edit the title like I did when I duplicated my own stage thread. :oops:
I'll then insert it into the OP.

above_the_cows

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Oh AtC. Great minds again, but I won by 5 minutes.

Transfer all the good (funny) stuff over and edit the title like I did when I duplicated my own stage thread. :oops:
I'll then insert it into the OP.

I was too busy looking for Aru pictures, some cream crackers and a Marseillaise gif.

blazing_saddles

Above The Cows wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Oh AtC. Great minds again, but I won by 5 minutes.

Transfer all the good (funny) stuff over and edit the title like I did when I duplicated my own stage thread. :oops:
I'll then insert it into the OP.

I was too busy looking for Aru pictures, some cream crackers and a Marseillaise gif.

I'll go and fetch it all, then you won't have an empty post.

above_the_cows

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Oh AtC. Great minds again, but I won by 5 minutes.

Transfer all the good (funny) stuff over and edit the title like I did when I duplicated my own stage thread. :oops:
I'll then insert it into the OP.

I was too busy looking for Aru pictures, some cream crackers and a Marseillaise gif.

I'll go and fetch it all, then you won't have an empty post.

S'alright kind sir, I has it here in my tiny but larger than Trumps hands.

RichN95.

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Yeah, but Muppets, Fight Club and Casablanca - that's panache. A combativity award and a Posteur du Charme for you

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Yeah, but Muppets, Fight Club and Casablanca - that's panache. A combativity award and a Posteur du Charme for you

It's obvious that I'm far too

with these thread starters.

above_the_cows

Well, well, well. We have a new man in yellow.



And tomorrow a quick bish, bash, bosh of a stage, the shortest in this year's Tour, that could be absolutely



Or



Depending on who gets in the break and whether Astana can control the race, perhaps they can draft Trump in to lend a tiny hand, I hear he's in the country although he might not know it.



Stay tuned for some more cow, cheese, wine and horse related frivolity.

above_the_cows

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Oh Blazers!

Yeah, but Muppets, Fight Club and Casablanca - that's panache. A combativity award and a Posteur du Charme for you

Merci cher Rich.

Pross

Hopefully Froome will be put under pressure on that final steep section, if Bardet can get a gap and do one of his descents.....

More likely everyone's more knackered after a day of actual racing following three rest days.

Pross

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

takethehighroad

Blazing Saddles wrote:

In fact, the finale in 2012 was played out virtually the same route as today. Sánchez attacked shortly before cresting the Mur de Péguère and he held off the chasers until the finish line in Foix.

Nit picking I know, but he attacked a group containing Sagan on the run in to the finish, while the bunch got there tyres all punctured by tacks at the top of the hill

DeVlaeminck

So how does this one play out? The final descent is long and not super steep so anyone escaping on the last climb is likely to need men up the road to avoid being reeled in before the finish.

Froome is likely to see this stage as one to avoid losing more time so maybe Sky will ride to prevent Ag2R, Cannondale and Astana from getting riders too far up ahead but they'll be desperate for Froome not to be isolated at the top of that last climb as if he is dropped he could lose the race descending solo chasing a group.

If the pace isn't too high from the gun I wonder if Contador might decide to go for a long one as he did on the Telegraph/Galibier/AlpeD'Huez stage when Evans won the Tour. It's unclear as to whose responsibility it is to control this race now and that might just open up opportunities for that kind of move.

Lanterne_Rogue

They won't even consider it, but telling Landa to try and get in the break could cause all sorts of chaos. Whose job is it to chase him, and do they have the bodies?

Sky won't, of course, but it'd be hilarious if they tried. Would also be interesting if they call everyone else's bluff and refuse to work to control things today. If you can't hurt them by riding on the front all day then change the point of attack for a while and see what happens. You'll still have fresh bodies for Froome if the opportunities change.

andyp

Pross wrote:

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

Me too. It was the last climb of the day when I did it, following the Mente, Portet d'Aspet and the Col de la Core, and I don't remember it being very difficult. The road up the valley from Seix (no sniggering at the back) to the foot of the climb seemed to go on forever though.

lettingthedaysgoby

underlayunderlay wrote:

They won't even consider it, but telling Landa to try and get in the break could cause all sorts of chaos. Whose job is it to chase him, and do they have the bodies?

Sky won't, of course, but it'd be hilarious if they tried. Would also be interesting if they call everyone else's bluff and refuse to work to control things today. If you can't hurt them by riding on the front all day then change the point of attack for a while and see what happens. You'll still have fresh bodies for Froome if the opportunities change.

Landa shooting off up the road would be fantastic

rick_chasey

Had one of my best ever climbing moments on the Col D'Agnes, but I suspect going the other direction.

LaTrap isn't too bad.

rick_chasey

andyp wrote:

Pross wrote:

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

Me too. It was the last climb of the day when I did it, following the Mente, Portet d'Aspet and the Col de la Core, and I don't remember it being very difficult. The road up the valley from Seix (no sniggering at the back) to the foot of the climb seemed to go on forever though.

Col de la Core is my nemisis.

Had an absolute shocker on there.

ugo.santalucia

So, that's it with the Pyrenees... we have seen 500 metres of action... today is not a mountain stage for the GC and then they move on... is it the worst Pyrenean set of stages the Tour has ever seen?

iainf72

ugo.santalucia wrote:

So, that's it with the Pyrenees... we have seen 500 metres of action... today is not a mountain stage for the GC and then they move on... is it the worst Pyrenean set of stages the Tour has ever seen?

The previous stage with a downhill finish actually produced good racing....

/justsayin'

dish_dash

Rick Chasey wrote:

andyp wrote:

Pross wrote:

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

Me too. It was the last climb of the day when I did it, following the Mente, Portet d'Aspet and the Col de la Core, and I don't remember it being very difficult. The road up the valley from Seix (no sniggering at the back) to the foot of the climb seemed to go on forever though.

Col de la Core is my nemisis.

Had an absolute shocker on there.

Need to work on your core...

knedlicky

andyp wrote:

Pross wrote:

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

Me too. It was the last climb of the day when I did it, following the Mente, Portet d'Aspet and the Col de la Core, and I don't remember it being very difficult. The road up the valley from Seix (no sniggering at the back) to the foot of the climb seemed to go on forever though.

Maybe because roughly speaking the farther it goes the harder it gets, 400 m of its last 500 m being in the 10-12.5 % range.

rick_chasey

Let's face it, despite the climbs, today's route wouldn't daunt a lot of us on here, so I can imagine it's going to be bloody bananas.

B3rnieMac

The 2011 Tour had a short stage as well and it was an absolute corker. Here's hoping this is the same!!

TheBigBean

A bardet attack is likely to be most interesting, but I'm not expecting much

blazing_saddles

When one thinks about it, this Tour only has a single, what I would call traditional, mountain top finish.
Today will have more GC action than yesterday, simply because of the long downhill to Foix.

The weather begins it's improvement over the next few days.

kingstongraham

andyp wrote:

Pross wrote:

Surprised that first climb is a 1st cat.

Me too. It was the last climb of the day when I did it, following the Mente, Portet d'Aspet and the Col de la Core, and I don't remember it being very difficult. The road up the valley from Seix (no sniggering at the back) to the foot of the climb seemed to go on forever though.

Same here - we did it between Portet d'Aspet and Agnes, and I don't remember it at all. I do remember Agnes.

Also, I remember someone in our group taking a wrong turn when we went up a different side of Pegueres, and descending the Mur by mistake. Then having to come back up. That looked a properly steep climb.

iainf72

I wonder if Froome is going to be tempted to try and look like he's struggling today, rope-a-dope stylee.

If he's indeed not broken.

larkim

If he's not lacking stamina but just lacking top end power at the end of a 200km day, perhaps he can surprise us all today.

Interesting to see if AG2R or Astana take a role on the front, or whether Sky roll up there again.