What to expect on July 16 on the roads between Gruissan and Nîmes. Our journalist draws up the first clues to the scenario which could play out during this unprecedented 16th stage.
The 16th stage Gruissan-Nîmes (187 km), on July 16, which will open the third and final week of the Tour de France 2024, will be the link between the Pyrenees and the Alps. This is commonly called a transition stage. A stage either dedicated to sprinters or breakaways. But not to the strong ones. Seeing a yellow jersey or another favorite of the event win on this kind of day never happens.
If it’s windy, there will be a fight
Gruissan-Nîmes is flat. Rather flat. In any case, it won’t scare anyone among the runners. Even if we won’t go far from Pic Saint-Loup (658 m). On the other hand, as Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme repeated, “if it’s windy, there will be a fight”. And why not fan teams at the head of the peloton and therefore edge shots? Naturally, cyclists will already be tired after two weeks of racing. They will come out of two big Pyrenean stages: Pau – Saint-Lary-Soulan on July 13 (152 km) and Loudenvielle – Plateau de Beille on the 14 (198 km). So on July 16, after the day of rest in Gruissan, will the trifecta in disorder, or at least the quinté, perhaps already be known? Although… Considering the last five days, the Tour is not immune to major late upheavals… Since after Gruissan-Nîmes, we will head straight to Superdevoluy in the Southern Alps.
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Tour de France 2024 in Gruissan: “Cycling is in the DNA of Gruissan”
The Gruissan-Nîmes stage therefore finds itself stuck between two massifs which have made the legend of the Tour. Which of course doesn’t take away from its charm. We are already starting to dream of the images of this Aude coastline broadcast on Mondovision this Tuesday July 16, 2024. If there is a professional runner who knows these roads, it is the Frenchman from the Intermarché-Circus-Groupe Wanty team Lilian Calmejane whose family home is in Aude. Will he line up at the start of the 111th edition of the Tour de France? Impossible to say at the moment.
2023-10-25 16:25:24
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