The riders have yet to face a serious mountain test at the Tour so far but that will all change with these three stages. All three are set in the Vosges and Jura region and will be a huge shock to a peloton which has so far avoided the mountains. There are no Alpine giants in these stages but the continual climbing and descending will be too much for a number of riders who will find themselves losing hours before they've even hit the high Alps.
Stage 6 - St Dizier - Vittel - 160.8km
There's only one categorised climb on this stage, a fourth cat, but it climbs almost all day up to a high point just 8km before the finish. From there it's a fast descent followed by a grippy rise which takes the riders into Vittel. The final kilometer is all straight but it's certainly not simple, the first 500m is up a gradual rise so the lead out men will have to be careful to leave enough in reserve for the last 500m. The difficulty is that the last 500m are all downhill so expect someone to take a flyer before the top with the hope that they can just hold off the sprinters for the win.Stage 7 - Ronchamp - La Planche Des Belles Filles - 24.1km
This is going to be an ultra difficult stage for everyone. The first 17km are largely flat but they do rise up by 180m in that time so it's a gradual rather than significant climb. The last 7km are horrific. The Planche Des Belles Filles isn't overly long but it is seriously steep and will be ridden after almost thirty minutes at lactic threshold. The other issue is that it's too long to use a conventional time trial bike on so expect to see riders switch to their standard road bikes, if they set off on the climb too fast then expect to see them losing chunks of time in the last few kilometers. It's also going to be a difficult stage for the pure climbers, they will want to save enough for the final climb but if they keep too much back then they will have such a deficit at the bottom that they will never bring it back. Expect to see the main contenders come to fore on this stage, the last time trial of the Tour.Stage 8 - Morteau - St Cergue - 190.3km
To use a boxing analogy, there will be no knock out blows on this stage but there will be a succession of body shots. The climbing starts immediately with the second category Col Sarrazins which should provide an excellent attacking point for a breakaway to form on. At the summit there's a false flat for the best part of 10km before a descent and an immediate climb up the next second category climb of the Col des Etroits. Neither of the opening climbs are overly troublesome but what is troubling is that the peloton have ridden 50km and bagged 1,000m of ascent - there's 2,500m to come. Another fast descent followed by some valley riding and it's into the village of Juriens for the start of 13km of uncategorised climbing. At the summit it's just under 20km to the foot of the Grand Fuey (6.8km @ 7%). This is a hugely testing climb but anyone in difficult will know that at the top it's easy riding to the foot of the Faucille so expect to see riders clinging on towards the top. The stage has been leading to this, the Col de la Faucille, arguably the most beautiful climb in the Alps. The climb starts comfortably enough and the ending isn't overly taxing but the mid section is seriously difficult. If someone drives the pace here then it will be goodbye to any rouleurs who were hanging on in the hope that they could make it over with the bunch and go for the stage win. At the top there's 24km to go but it's almost all downhill, expect to see a very fast chase into the beautiful ski town of St Cergue.
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