The stage profile
“Normally, it should be completely cooked for the sprinters!”, Estimates the “tracer” of the Tour Thierry Gouvenou about the 159.4 kilometers which connect Drôme to Gard through the gorges of the Ardèche, up to Vallon-Pont-d’Arc (Km 57), in the initial part.
“We have multiplied the changes of direction,” he warns, however. “The danger can come from the wind”.
As the finish approaches, the race passes through Uzès, where the intermediate sprint is judged, then near the Pont du Gard, one of the wonders of Roman antiquity, for a final identical to that of 2019 in the prefecture of Gard.
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History
Nîmes (154,000 inhabitants), the starting point for the Vuelta in 2017, is hosting the Grande Boucle for the 19th time. Two years after the success of the Australian Caleb Ewan, who had to abandon the Tour 2021 after a crash in the third stage in Pontivy.
The difficulty of the day
The peloton has only one listed ascent to climb this Thursday: it is the coast of the Belvédère de Tharaux (3rd category, 4.4 km at 4.6% average).
Schedules
The stage will start in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux at 1:30 p.m. and should arrive in Nîmes around 5:22 p.m.
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