Stage 9 Breakdown:

The 9th stage, the last one before the first rest day, is a hard one. The riders face a mountainous 182km journey from Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to the finish up Puy the Dôme. The first 165km of the stage is filled with hilly terrain, including one 3rd category and two 4th category climbs. Where it really gets tough though, is the last 13km up to the finish at Puy de Dôme.

Puy de Dôme is a dormant volcano located in southern france, and has a peak of 1465m above mean sea level. Tour de france has visited the mountain on multiple occations, including a memorable event in 1975 when Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidney by a spectator. The final climb is 13km long with an average gradient of 7.7%. However, despite the manageable average the last 4km to the top is all in the double digits, reaching over 12% in some parts.

Given that it is the last stage before the rest day, there are likely many riders and teams interested in joining a breakaway. Expect the pace of the stage to be high, and the entertainment value likewise. The stage win could go either way, depending whether the general classification riders are interested in chasing the breakaway for the stage win or attacking eachother in the final climb. It should nonetheless be an interesting stage, so don’t miss out!

Favorites:
| +++ | Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard
| ++ | Jai Hindley, Mattias Skjelmose, Michael Woods
| + | Felix Gall, Daniel Martinez, Dylan Teuns, Giulio Ciccone

Tour Manager:
Etappe 9 er siste etappe før første hviledag. Det er en tøff dag for rytterne, 182km med avslutning opp den ikoniske vulkanen Puy de Dôme. Ettersom det er siste etappe før hviledag er det forventet at det er mange ryttere som er interessert i å prøve seg i brudd, så man kan forvente høy hastighet gjennom etappen. Det er en etappe hvor både et brudd kan gå inn, eller det kan bli kamp blant sammenlagtrytterne, alt etter hvor hard kampen mellom sammenlagtrytterne blir og om dem er interessert i en etappeseier. Kan være lurt å ha både Pogacar og Vingegaard på laget til denne etappen, sammen med noen av klatrerne som går for klatretrøyen. Lykke til!

Tune in for more stage by stage analysis, and predictions to come!