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2018 Tour de France preview: the course

Three summit finishes, cobbles and a team time trial

July 3, 2018
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Now that the Chris Froome situation has reached a conclusion to everyone’s satisfaction, and the UCI has expressed its hope that we can all focus on, and enjoy, the rest of the racing calendar, it’s time to take a look at the 105th Tour de France, which starts on Saturday in Noirmoutier-en-l’Île with a sprinter’s stage ending in Fontenay-le-Comte. First, Canadian Cycling Magazine will examine the route.

For all of its climbing, the 2018 Tour de France is stingy on summit finishes, with only three: La Rosière (Stage 11), Alpe d’Huez (Stage 12), and the Col de Portet (Stage 17). In total there are eight flat stages, five hilly stages, six mountain stages, one team time trial and one individual time trial. Except for a brief incursion into Spain on Stage 16 the race stays in France.

Week 1: TTT and cobbles

After a couple of sprint stages where Peter Sagan, Fernando Gaviria, Arnaud Démare and Andre Greipel grapple for yellow, the riders face the 35-km team time trial in Cholet where wind could play havoc with the eight-man formations. At least two teams will have lost riders in the first two stages.

Moving Northwest, a Classics day awaits in Brittany on Stage 5: 200-km from Lorient to Quimper with 10 hills to climb and an uphill finish. The next day the field will tackle the Mûr de Bretagne twice, the last trip up to the finish.

Heading east, the race takes on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix including the brutal Mons en Pevele section. In all there will 15 cobbled sectors for 21.7-km on Stage 9 before the first rest day. It’s the most cobbles since 1980, and instead of packing them all in the latter half of the stage, the pavé is distributed evenly, making for a mini-Hell of the North. The cobbles might be the only thing that can stop Chris Froome, as in 2014.

Three time World Champion Peter Sagan and the peloton face the cobbles on Stage 9.


Week 2: The Alps

A transfer south to the Alps ushers in the first big mountains. The La Rosière and L’Alpe d’Huez summit finishes will provide the second week’s big GC skirmishes on Stages 11 and 12.

First comes Stage 10’s taste of the mountains and a serving of hairy dirt roads. The 2-km of dirt comes at the end of the 6-km, 11.2 percent Plateau des Glières climb. Before the finish in Le Grand-Bornand the riders will climb the Col de Colombiere.

Stage 11 is short at 108-km but has four ascents including the first summit finish on La Rosière. Alpe d’Huez comes at the conclusion of 175-km Stage 12 with the Col de la Croix de Fer situated just past the mid-way point. It’s been three years since the storied 21-hairpin turns of Alpe d’Huez last appeared. The climb ascends for 13.8-km at 8.1 percent with a maximum of 13 percent.

Westward from the Alps brings the race to Mende for an uphill finish on Stage 14. Stage 15 ends in Carcassonne where the second rest day is set.

Week 3: The Pyrenees and the chrono

The first day of the last week throws three mountains into the latter half of a 218-km stage, but Stage 17 the next day will be intense, with three climbs and 38-km worth of ascending in a 65-km route that ends on the 16-km, 8.7 percent Col de Portet. It is the final summit finish. Inevitably, someone will do an Alberto Contador and try to get away on the second climb of Val Louron-Azet or even the first ascent of Peyresourde. Stage 17 also has a grid-style start that favours those high in the GC.

The last mountain stage on July 27 contains four big climbs, including the Aspin, the Tourmalet and finally the Aubisque peaking 20-km from the line in Laruns.

The final test of the GC men will come on the hilly 31-km individual time trial in the Basque Country. The course is hilly enough to give the non-specialists a chance, with the Côte de Pinodieta (900-metres at 10.2 per cent) situated near the end.

Last year Romain Bardet went from 23-seconds down on the yellow to barely hanging onto the podium after the Stage 20 chrono. Photo: Sirotti

A procession into Paris for the sprint on the Champs Elysees is July 29.

2018 Tour de France

Stage 1, July 7: Noirmoutier-en-l’Ile–Fontenay-le-Comte, 189km
Stage 2, July 8: Mouilleron-Saint-Germain–La Roche-sur-Yon, 183km
Stage 3, July 9: Cholet–Cholet (TTT), 35km
Stage 4, July 10: La Baule – Sarzeau, 192km
Stage 5, July 11: Lorient–Quimper, 203km
Stage 6, July 12: Brest–Mûr de Bretagne Guerlédan, 181km
Stage 7, July 13: Fougères–Chartres, 231km
Stage 8, July 14: Dreux–Amiens Métropole, 181km
Stage 9, July 15: Arras Citadelle–Roubaix, 154km
Rest day, July 16: Annecy
Stage 10, July 17: Annecy–Le Grand Bornand, 159km
Stage 11, July 18: Albertville–La Rosière, 108km
Stage 12, July 19: Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs–Alpe d’Huez, 175km
Stage 13, July 20: Bourg d’Oisans–Valence, 169km
Stage 14, July 21: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux–Mende, 187km
Stage 15, July 22: Millau–Carcassonne, 181km
Rest day, July 23: Carcassonne
Stage 16, July 24: Carcassonne–Bagnères-de-Luchon, 218km
Stage 17, July 25: Bagnères-de-Luchon–Saint-Lary-Soulan (Col de Portet), 65km
Stage 18, July 26: Trie-sur-Baïse–Pau, 172km
Stage 19, July 27: Lourdes–Laruns, 200km
Stage 20, July 28: Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle–Espelette (ITT), 31km
Stage 21, July 29: Houilles–Paris Champs Elysées, 115km