Sunday marks the first true mountain stage at the 2017 Tour de France. With 7 climbs three of which classified as Hors Categorie, the stage will test the legs of all the riders heading into the rest day on Monday. Right out of the gate from Nantua Riders will face the Category 2 Cote des Neyrolles and the Category 3 Col de Berentin. The true test though will be the Grand Colombier at 91 km into the race which features sections of over 20% grade and the final HC climb of Mont du Chat which has an average of 10.3% grade over 8.7 km which much steeper sections throughout. The final descent is very technical before the flat 10 km run in to the finish in Chambéry.
| Stage Type | Mountain |
|---|---|
| Stage Distance | 181.4 km |
| Estimated Time | 04:59:31 |
| Avg. Peloton Speed | 36.34 km/h |
| Avg. Pulling Power | 340.92 watts |
| Avg. Pulling Yaw | 2.29 ° |
The wind should not be much of an issue in the mountains but there could be some rain in key spots towards the end of the race that would causes issues on the tricky descent of Mont du Chat. Temperatures should be lower than recent days though it could heat up a bit towards the finish in Chambéry.
We would expect a break to form early and much like today's stage the winner could very well come from a second break or solo break from this larger group. The profile of Stage 9 is daunting and there are almost no places for riders to sit in and rest. The 20 km section from 107 km to 127 km will be flat and potentially feature a very slight tail wind. If the wind picks up and is favorable it would give a break group some cushion over the peloton going into the final climb up Mont du Chat. As for the GC riders the smaller climbers have to have this stage highlighted. With several sections of Grand Colombier and Mont du Chat well over 14% it represents a real opportunity to stress Froome. If Quintana or Contador have anything in the legs they have to attack somewhere in the stage and probably early and often. Richie Porte and Fabio Aru demonstrated strong legs on Mont du Chat at the Criterium du Dauphiné but Froome showed last year that he was not afraid to attack a descent and barring some issue will be hard pressed to give up the Yellow Jersey to a rival tomorrow.
Analysis was performed by modeling the peloton as a single rider using front of the pack drag characteristics and pulling power targets. Take a look at the entire race plan that was used for this analysis, which includes additional features, metrics and downloadable files.
Stage 9 Race Plan: https://www.bestbikesplit.com/client/71897