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2019 Tour de France: Stage 17 Preview

  • Ron 

Mountains! Well, hills really.

The 2019 Tour de France saves the best for last, with four days in the Alps before riding into Paris on Sunday.

Wednesday’s Stage 17 is 200km from Pont du Gard to Gap with the Category 4 740m Cote de la Rochette de Buis coming at km 104.5 and the Category 3 Col de la Sentinelle coming just 8.5km from the finish. The run into Gap won’t be as steep as it has been in previous years when the Col de Manse was the final climb before the finish.

The day is almost sure to go to a rider from the breakaway, if stages from years past are any indication. There are a lot of riders in the ‘sprinters who can climb’ category that might make a go for it.

The real question is the GC. Julian Alaphilippe MIGHT get another day in the maillot jaune, but there are four riders within two minutes of the lead that may choose to turn things on their heads before the climbing gets serious on Thursday.

The finishing town of Gap is making its 24th appearance in the Tour. Gap is surrounded by mountains towering to 3000m but the feel is still quite Mediterranean. The Old Town is dominated by tall, pastel-painted houses on every street. Visitors are drawn to the scent of tourtons frying at Gap’s markets. They’re a sort of doughnut, but instead of dough they’re a pastry filled with any number of different ingredients. Sweet, they come with pureed apple or prunes inside, while the savoury variety has spinach, potato, cheese or meat.

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