TDF 2021: Stage 13, Nîmes > Carcassonne 219.9 km **Spoilers**

blazing_saddles

Stage 13, Nîmes > Carcassonne 219.9 km

9-10-2021
Start 11-05am

After an overnight stop in Nimes, the riders will leave the same city in the Occitanie region of southern France and head in a South Westerly direction towards the historical city of Carcassonne: From the Roman arena that is considered as the most well preserved in the world to the medieval city that is part of the UNESCO world heritage. This looks like a relatively straightforward transition stage as the race heads towards the Pyrenees but once more the threat of crosswinds loom large,



At 220 kilometres, the race is tailor-made for a successful breakaway, as Carcassone has never seen a sprint a bunch sprint. Magnus Cort Nielsen winning from the break, the last time the race visited in 2018. KOM contenders have only one chance to add points to their tally. The Côte du Pic-Saint Loup – 5.5 kilometres at 3.6% – is crested after 51.5 kilometres before the rest of the day traverses flat to undulating roads.



Final Kilometres




To judge from earlier Tour de France stage finishes in Carcassonne, the breakaway is likely to be successful. To judge from the route, a sprint finish is the most likely outcome. In 2018, a group of 29 riders formed a successful breakaway, 26 of whom made the finish in Carcassone before the peloton. However that stage was considerably more hilly, with a large climb topping out 40kms from the finish.
Plus now we have the added Cavendish factor. After today's stage, he surely has to go for the win in Carcassone...................unless the wind blows all plans to pieces.

Favourites stage 13 Tour de France 2021

***** Mark Cavendish
**** Someone from the breakaway (Iván García Cortina, Jasper Stuyven, Michael Valgren, Anthony Turgis, Lukas Pöstlberger)
*** Wout van Aert, Nacer Bouhanni, Jasper Philipsen
** Michael Matthews, Sonny Colbrelli Christophe Laporte, Danny van Poppel, Cees Bol
* André Greipel, Niccolò Bonifazio, Max Walscheid, Mads Pedersen

On the road

Km 75
Aniane, Devil's Bridge
Construction: 1030 by the monks of Gellone de Aniane.



Km 130:

Km 130: Murviel-lès-Béziers (Pop: 3,000)
Built on a hillock and occupying a dominant strategic site, the former seigniorial castle and its terrace offer an immense panorama over the vast Orb plain.



Murviel-lès-Béziers is in the centre of the St Chinian wine region.



Km 172:

Minerve (Pop: 310)
Historic capital of the Minervois region. Perched on a rocky spur formed by the canyons of the Cesse and Brian rivers, which converge here, it is on the list of the "most beautiful villages in France".



Minervois la Liviniere wine has been elevated to Grand Cru status is a recent revamp of Languedoc wines appellations. As a result they can command higher prices than is normal for the region.




Carcassonne

Stage town for the 11th time
Population: 47,365

Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Aude between historic trade routes, linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées.
Carcassonne is famous for its medieval citadel, La Cité, with numerous watchtowers and double-walled fortifications. The first walls were built in Gallo-Roman times, with major additions made in the 13th and 14th centuries. Château Comtal, is a 12th-century castle within the Cité.
The Cité de Carcassonne, is a medieval fortress dating back to the Gallo-Roman period and restored by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1853.



Fougasse aux fritons
Carcassonne is also a gourmet stopover that reveals all the richness of the Languedoc region. Among the specialities to be savoured during a trip along the Canal du Midi, fougasse aux fritons is both simple and tasty. This peasant preparation was originally conceived to enrich the flavour of the bread with the remains of a pig.

jimmyjams

blazing_saddles said:

The Côte du Pic-Saint Loup – 5.5 kilometres at 3.6% – is crested after 51.5 kilometres before the rest of the day traverses flat to undulating roads.

Murviel-lès-Béziers is in the centre of the St Chinian wine region.

The Côte du Pic-Saint Loup is well below the nearby mountain peak, and Pic-Saint Loup is anyway not that high (still over an hour hike from Côte to Pic) , but the Pic is nonetheless impressive for rising alone from a lower undulating landscape. So in a way it is very much like a minor version of Mont Ventoux, dominating its surroundings (although unlike Ventoux, no road goes to its summit).

The whole stage is more or less through the Languedoc vineyards.
Please delete the reference to St. Chinian - wine from there is my favourite and I don't really want anyone else knowing how good it is!

blazing_saddles

jimmyjams said:

blazing_saddles said:

The Côte du Pic-Saint Loup – 5.5 kilometres at 3.6% – is crested after 51.5 kilometres before the rest of the day traverses flat to undulating roads.

Murviel-lès-Béziers is in the centre of the St Chinian wine region.

The Côte du Pic-Saint Loup is well below the nearby mountain peak, and Pic-Saint Loup is anyway not that high (still over an hour hike from Côte to Pic) , but the Pic is nonetheless impressive for rising alone from a lower undulating landscape. So in a way it is very much like a minor version of Mont Ventoux, dominating its surroundings (although unlike Ventoux, no road goes to its summit).

The whole stage is more or less through the Languedoc vineyards.
Please delete the reference to St. Chinian - wine from there is my favourite and I don't really want anyone else knowing how good it is!

Mine too. I'm very familiar with Murviel's cooperative, through family hols there.
FYI, Pic St Loup is also one of the Languedoc Grand Cru appellations.

Pross

So looking at the Meteo site for tomorrow the wind in Nimes is due to be 20km/h from the north or north northwest which would be a crosswind on the first quarter to third of the stage but probably not strong enough.

The wind at Carcassonne is forecast as 25km/h gusting to 40km/h but unfortunately from the west which be a cross-headwind. Maybe there'll be an overlap in the middle of 40km/h gusts from the north which would be perfect (or the speed will be higher at the start / direction more northerly later on the day).

Another day of blazing sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high 20s to show of those vineyards in all their glory. Which reminds me, I haven't seen the stereotype sunflowers yet on this Tour.

tailwindhome

Sonny Colbrelli is a fabulous name

blazing_saddles

Pross said:

Now this was posted on VR.
We have the wind forecast to be in completely the opposite direction.




We need somebody on the ground...

Pross

I find Meteo a bit rubbish to be honest.

Pross

Met Office and the Windy app both backing up that Meteo information I saw so it could be on. Not sure the wind will be strong enough though.

blazing_saddles

Half way point.



This looks promising for the final turn towards Carcassone.

blazing_saddles

Pross said:

Met Office and the Windy app both backing up that Meteo information I saw so it could be on. Not sure the wind will be strong enough though.

Meteo info was right yesterday. That's why I called an early klaxon but nothing after that.
20kph is usually just enough if teams are prepared to give it ago.
There is also the value added factor of the route being more exposed and some narrow roads, too.

Pross

That sun and the temperatures are making me envious.

20km/h is probably just about enough but if the gusts are more prolonged fingers crossed!

DeVlaeminck

Yes watching this race is making me miss being able to travel to France - Carcassonne is well worth visiting.

Lanterne_Rogue

blazing_saddles said:

We need somebody on the ground...

Well has this been the tour for you...

DQS took the day off yesterday, apart from Alaphilippe, so should be fresh(ish) to chase. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

ocdupalais

tailwindhome said:

Sonny Colbrelli is a fabulous name

I’ve been hoping for the unlikely occasion of Colbrelli and Michael Schär (pronounced ‘sh-air’) being in a break together for all the hilarious “I Got You Babe”, etc references, but so far, alas…

mididoctors

takethehighroad said:

13 Think it will be a break again. Jasper Stuyven please

I think he may be right about another break

No_Ta_Doctor

Everyone is waiting for what DQS do.

takethehighroad

From what Cav said yesterday about it being "more of the same roads but 60k longer"

I think he'll have eyes on resting up before the mountains and targeting the Libourne sprint next Friday and Paris a week on Sunday

No_Ta_Doctor

Carapaz with a bike issue in neutral zone

Pross

mididoctors said:

takethehighroad said:

13 Think it will be a break again. Jasper Stuyven please

I think he may be right about another break

Very possibly, takes a lucky guess on PTP to get points from a breakaway stage though especially as the usual suspects seem to have been struggling this year. They're the stages that can make or break a PTP campaign. I'm tempted to change my pick as I'm not going to win by following the wheels!

No_Ta_Doctor

Skinsuit watch: Cav not wearing it today. Draw what conclusions you will

blazing_saddles

takethehighroad said:

From what Cav said yesterday about it being "more of the same roads but 60k longer"

I think he'll have eyes on resting up before the mountains and targeting the Libourne sprint next Friday and Paris a week on Sunday

Surely that's odds on a stage for the breakaway?
I know it's been quite a few years, but that's normally how thing happen after the last, big mountains.

Carapaz with a neutral zone issue.
Perhaps he's having an anemometer fitted instead of his bike computer.

takethehighroad

blazing_saddles said:

takethehighroad said:

From what Cav said yesterday about it being "more of the same roads but 60k longer"

I think he'll have eyes on resting up before the mountains and targeting the Libourne sprint next Friday and Paris a week on Sunday

Surely that's odds on a stage for the breakaway?
I know it's been quite a few years, but that's normally how thing happen after the last, big mountains.

Usually it is, but I would've thought yesterday would have been a sprint. I think Cav will want 2 more sprints for the win, but I feel Libourne will be better. Thinking back, Bordeaux in 2010 & Brive in 2012 were both the last Friday of the race

No_Ta_Doctor

Flag drops
Alaphilippe sitting at the back
Headwind at the mo
No big attacks
De Gendt having a go
Casper Pedersen as well

16 teams without a win so far

No_Ta_Doctor

Oliver Naessen wants to get away, couple of attempts so far

Pross

No_Ta_Doctor said:

Skinsuit watch: Cav not wearing it today. Draw what conclusions you will

My conclusion is that what Wiggins reported yesterday about ASO not providing him with one for yesterday's stage is BS as presumably if that was the case he'd have had one of the other ones on standby today.

The Instagram post by Orla yesterday was quite amusing where she mentioned Dan Lloyd saying he'd sold four skinsuits and Lloyd responded to say that was four skinsuits and not foreskin suits.

No_Ta_Doctor

Asgreen trying to get in and drive a break, which probably answers the DQS question.

Pross

Pog having to do a bit of work. 72kph is savage!

Pross

97 Roundabouts - I think Jay Z did a song about that.

No_Ta_Doctor

Wind seems all over the place

No_Ta_Doctor

Had a lol at GVA doing a crafty attack on the other side of a central reservation, only to find the road continued to be divided with a broader and broader planted reservation, sending him round the outside of a big bend and the wrong way round a roundabout

No_Ta_Doctor

Mads P having a go. He's had a rough tour so far, 3 tarmac meals and a cold the last couple of days

Has Walscheid and another with him. DQS trying to block, without much success