A glorious fight for the breakaway is in the pipeline. Following a rolling section of 15 kilometres the riders enter the Col des Saises, which is a climb of 13.4 kilometres at 5.1%. The route descends to Beaufort only to return to climbing, this time on the Cormet de Roselend, an ascent of 19.9 kilometres at 6%. Let’s see how the breakaway rolls by now.
Following a prolonged downhill the Côte de Longefoy throws in 6.6 kilometres at 7.5% before the route continues to climbs at shallow gradients to Notre-Dame-du-Pré. Still 55 kilometres to go when the riders move through the resort village.
The Tour descends to Moûtiers and moments later, in Brides-les-Bains, the Col de la Loze opens on a gentle note. The climb totals almost 30 kilometres, but the first half is nothing special. The gradients go up to 7% after Méribel, which is still nothing compared to the last 5 kilometres. This part of the Col de la Loze was first paved in 2019 and it’s extremely irregular. Still, the average gradient of the last 5 kilometres sits at over 10%.
A 6 kilometres downhill, with a short uphill halfway, leads to the last 600 metres. Which is another insane ramp at 10.8%.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the first three on the Col de la Loze get 8, 5 and 2 seconds.
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Another interesting reads: results 17th stage 2023 Tour de France.
Tour de France 2023 stage 17: routes, profiles, more
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