It’s GC showtime at the 2024 Tour de France. Friday and Saturday’s stages are adventures into the High Alps, with the Yellow Jersey on the line.
The menu for Friday’s ultra-mountain Stage 19 could well make you dizzy, but it will appeal to the very best climbers at the Tour. Although the stage is less than 150km long, the riders will climb above 2,000 metres on three occasions. The biggest test is the climb to the summit of La Bonette, the highest road in France at an altitude of 2,802 metres. Its 360-degree panorama is truly stunning. Will it cause any of the top contenders in the GC to crack? Potentially…
They might be able to recover somewhat on the long descent form La Bonette and the valley road that follows, before the final climb of Isola 2000, where whoever is feeling strongest could make a decisive move.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is without doubt a favourite for the stage win, but his great rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is also an incredible climber who will not make it easy for the Yellow Jersey. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) said after Stage 18, “I stayed two weeks in training at Isola 2000, because I knew that there are a lot of riders who live in Nice and Monaco and who know these roads very well. So I had to go too.”
The man in the white jersey has ridden consistently well in the mountains so far in his first Tour de France, even managing to distance both Pogacar and Vingegaard at the end of Stage 17 on the final climb to SuperDevoluy, even if he only gained a few seconds on the two men ahead of him in the GC.
Strong climbers such as Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) could likewise fight for the stage win and there are also climbers talented enough from outside the current GC top 10 to take the bouquet at the Isola 2000 finish line.
