TDF 2024:- Stage 16: Gruissan – Nimes, 188.6km ***Spoilers***

Stage 16: Gruissan – Nimes, 188.6km

July 16th.

Start Time: 12-05BST.

Stage 16 of the Tour de France 2024 is a 188.6km flat stage from Gruissan to Nîmes.The stage route leaves the coast near Narbonne, and heads over the Pic Saint-Loup. The 2nd stage of the 2017 Vuelta a España went in the opposite direction. The race from Nîmes to Gruissan spanned over 200 kilometres and featured less than 600 vertical metres. Strong winds shredded the peloton in the finale. The route from Gruissan to Nîmes heads more inland, with an altitude gain of almost 1,200 metres, which still favors the fast men.

While Gruissan was not part of the Tour de France before, the opposite is true for Nîmes. The race has visited the ancient city three times in the past decade. Alexander Kristoff (2014), Caleb Ewan (2019), and Nils Politt (2021) claimed victories in those editions.

Profile.

Map.

The Climb.

Côte de Fambetou (Cat. 4)

Final Kilometres.

The peloton takes the D135 Chemin des Canaux to Aubord and Caissargues. It then joins the D999 near Rodilhan. There's a left turn at a roundabout onto Boulevard du Président Salvador Allende. Now there are no more turns before the finish, but there are several roundabouts where the race goes straight on.

The finish line is on Bd Allende by Nîmes Métropole Colisée, and near the Stade des Costières.

What to Expect.

The route is 100% tailored for the fast men. There’s only one climb on the course, the Côte de Fambetou, which rises 1.2 kilometres with an average gradient of 5%. It’s a mere trifle, unlikely to affect the race dynamics, since its summit is 76 kilometres from the finish.

However, what could influence the race are crosswinds. Conditions in this part of Occitany can get quite lively. Fingers crossed that the Mistral blows, eh?

Gruissan

Stage town for the first time.

Town in the Aude department (11)

Population: 5,100

GRUISSAN AND CYCLING

Although the Tour de France has never made a stop in Gruissan, it has already visited the immediate vicinity of the Aude seaside resort, notably during its visits to Narbonne and Narbonne-Plage, which have generally favoured sprinters.

Specialities: eel bourride, Mediterranean fish and seafood, Aude wines (La Clape, Minervois, Corbières). Oysters from Gruissan and Leucate.

Eel bourride

This is a typical dish of the fishermen of Bages and Gruissan. In the land of the ponds, bourride is cooked with a heel of ham and potatoes, topped with a parsley and olive oil sauce.

Nîmes

Stage town for the 20th time

Prefecture of Gard

Population: 154,850

NIMES AND CYCLING

The 19 stages of the Tour de France that finish in Nimes have often been won by sprinters, although the race's final visit went an escapee, solid German Nils Politt, who won solo at the foot of the arena. In 2019, Caleb Ewan won his second stage of the Tour de France here, following his victory in Toulouse five days earlier. In 2014, close to the Costières stadium, Norway's Alexander Kristoff won the final stage of the race, controlling a peloton that had just caught New Zealander Jack Bauer, who had broken clear from the start. 2008 saw the revelation on the Tour of the extraordinary talent of Isle of Man speedster Mark Cavendish.

Specialities: brandade de Nimes, Villaret croquants (dry cakes), picholine (AOC green olive), Nimes olive oil (AOC), Nimes pâtés, gariguettes (strawberries), Costières de Nimes (AOC wine). Jeans originate from Nimes (Denim).

Nimes brandade

Brandade is a Nimes speciality made with cod or, more precisely, hake, which was the name given to salted and dried hake, a fish caught in the Mediterranean, before becoming the local name for cod. Brandade was born from the combination of three ingredients that could only be found in Nimes: sea salt harvested fifty kilometres away, local hake later replaced by cod, and olive oil, which is abundant here.