Tour 2015: Stage 15 Mende > Valence
STAGE FACT
The Port de l’Epervière, in Valence, is the largest river port in France. It is only a day trip from the Mediterranean.
For the second successive stage, the previous day’s finish town is the stage start. Mende waves the peloton off towards an undulating first 125 km — including the ascent of the 8 km Col de l’Escrinet — before a fast and flat finish that will tempt the sprinters’ teams.
Where are we?
We’re in the Rhône-Alpes region though the finishing city of Valence, in the south of the region, has only ever been included in one edition of the Tour, back in 1996 when it was used as a finish and a start. The Rhône valley can be prone to wind so echelons may form alongside the vineyards and fruit orchards if conditions require them.
What can we expect?
The run-in along the river lends itself to a bunch sprint for the fast men although if the aforementioned wind blows up the valley from behind it could assist a break staying away. But the Champs-Elysées aside this is really the only stage in the second two weeks of the Tour that looks geared up for a bunch sprint. Teams with a chance are not going to let the opportunity slip from their grasp easily.
But won’t sprinters be daunted by that climb?
The second cat, 14 km, Col de l’Escrinet has only featured in the Tour once before, in 2009, when its 787 m summit was 16 km before the end. Mark Cavendish described it as “not a stage for me” yet he defied even his own predictions, and sprinted to his fifth stage win of the Tour in Aubernas.
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