It is the penultimate day of the 2024 Tour de France and the riders have a short but very tough stage ahead of them, before tomorrow’s time trial to wrap up the race.
At 133km Stage 20 is even shorter than Friday’s outing, which included the Col de Vars, the monstruous Cime de la Bonette and the hard final Isola 2000, yet there are further intense climbs ahead on Saturday.
The Paris-Nice regulars will be racing over familiar terrain, but that won’t make things any easier, particularly over such a short distance. Even if there are plenty of fatigued legs in the peloton – which by this point there surely are – the pace will still be relentless.
Battle could commence as early as the climb to the Col de Braus. There will then be no respite on the climbs of the Cols de Turini, de la Colmiane and finally de la Couillole, the final ascent extending for 15.7km at an average gradient of 7.1%. Four tough mountain ascents, with 4,500m of climbing in total. It will be brutal out there.
After his fourth stage win of the 2024 Tour which gave Yellow Jersey Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) an extended 5'03” overall lead in the GC at the end of Stage 19, he stated categorically, “Tomorrow I can let the breakaway go to the end.”
Pogacar does have a Nice to Col de la Couillole victory from Paris-Nice in 2023 to his name, though given that clear post-Stage 19 statement made after the Isola 2000 finish unless he is leaving his rivals second guessing, the contenders for the win will be those who can get in the breakaway and stay there until the end of Stage 20.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) will be there defending his polka dot jersey but his focus on the Mountain points is a priority over another stage victory. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) showed on Stage 20 that they have the characteristics and form to win over this type of parcours, though they will need to go again after their Friday exertions.
Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Oier Lazkano (Movistar) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) are riders to watch, all with the motivation and skillset to fight for the victory.
