Tour 2015: Stage 17 Digne-les-Bains > Pra Loup
STAGE FACT
Eddy Merckx has happy memories of start town Digne-les-Bains: it was here in 1969 that he took one of his 6 stage wins in that race.
This is it: fresh from a rest day, the final push and four arduous days in the Alps start here. Regardless of how things have gone so far, there’ll be nowhere to hide for the race leader. The stages ahead are generally short, designed to encourage aggressive racing.
So what’s in store?
Excitement. It’s a lumpy stage that will could tempt some of the KOM (King Of Mountain) contenders into the break but the GC battle will ignite on the penultimate climb, the 23 km Col d’Allos. Those GC hopefuls needing to reduce their deficit could attack on the final two climbs, but the Pra Loup summit finish is probably not long enough to produce big gaps.
Excitement. It’s a lumpy stage that will could tempt some of the KOM (King Of Mountain) contenders into the break but the GC battle will ignite on the penultimate climb, the 23 km Col d’Allos. Those GC hopefuls needing to reduce their deficit could attack on the final two climbs, but the Pra Loup summit finish is probably not long enough to produce big gaps.
Didn’t the Dauphiné do this stage?
It did indeed. Romain Bardet took full advantage of the fast 16 km descent off the Allos, opening up a time gap of over a minute before he began the final climb, which he crossed first to win by 36 seconds from Tejay van Garderen. Mimicking Bardet’s fearless descending might be the blueprint to stage success, but with precipitous verges, there’s no room for error.
It did indeed. Romain Bardet took full advantage of the fast 16 km descent off the Allos, opening up a time gap of over a minute before he began the final climb, which he crossed first to win by 36 seconds from Tejay van Garderen. Mimicking Bardet’s fearless descending might be the blueprint to stage success, but with precipitous verges, there’s no room for error.
Any other history?
It’s not lost on anniversary loving race director Christian Prudhomme that it was at Pra Loup, 40 years ago, that the downfall of the great Eddy Merckx began. Reeling from a punch to the kidneys by a spectator a couple of days earlier, the Belgian lost two minutes to Bernard Thévenet, who took over the lead and went on to win the whole Tour. What was that we said about time differences?
It’s not lost on anniversary loving race director Christian Prudhomme that it was at Pra Loup, 40 years ago, that the downfall of the great Eddy Merckx began. Reeling from a punch to the kidneys by a spectator a couple of days earlier, the Belgian lost two minutes to Bernard Thévenet, who took over the lead and went on to win the whole Tour. What was that we said about time differences?
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