Tour de France 2017 Favourites stage 5: Froomes climb to yellow?

Tour de France 2017 Favourites stage 5: Froome’s climb to yellow?

The 5th stage of the Tour de France serves the first proper summit finish. The closing climb to La Planche des Belles Filles is 5.9 kilometres at 8.5%. Is Froome going to replace Thomas in the overall lead, or will the Welsman survive the steep ramps? (Slideshow route/profile)

The Tour de France has finished on La Planche des Belles Filles twice before. In 2014, Nibali outclimbed Pinot and Valverde, while Contador and Froome where out of contention due to crashes. Two years prior Froome won the stage ahead of Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins thanks to an acceleration on the 20% stretch just before the top.

Those 2012 and 2014 stages to La Planche des Belles Filles were tougher than this year’s as they took in (much) more intermediate climbs. Stage 5 runs on rolling roads to the foot of Côte d’Esmoulières, which is a long but not a steep climb that’s crested with some 40 kilometres remaining. Then the finale commences with an short climb to the village Fresse. A drop of approximately 4 kilometres runs to the base of La Planche des Belles Filles.

The closing climb is a 5.9 kilometres toil that is averaging 8.5%. The riders must keep in mind that the worst is saved for last as the 20% ramp is near the top.

GC guys or escapees? Looking a the profile it must be easy enough to control the race, but you’ll never know…

It will be interesting to see Geraint Thomas on the steep last climb. If he falls short Chris Froome is next in line to take the yellow jersey. He is only 12 seconds down on the yellow jersey, while the other GC contenders are more than 40 seconds in arrears.

Favourites 5th stage Tour de France 2017

*** Chris Froome, Romain Bardet, Richie Porte
** Alberto Contador, Esteban Chaves, Nairo Quintana
* Thibaut Pinot, Simon Yates, Robert Gesink, Tim Wellens, Gianluca Brambilla