category 4 tour de france

What Do The Mountain Categories Mean in The Tour de France?

Alpha ninja explains how mountains are categorized in the tour de france.

12 July, 2016 Alpha Ninja Ask Alpha Ninja

Tim: Hey Alpha Ninja! What are all the categorizations of the mountains in the Tour de France? I keep seeing numbers thrown around, but I don’t quite understand what they mean.

Hey Tim: Welcome to the world’s most confusing question. OK, not that the basic classifications are confusing, but when the asphalt of the Tour de France heads skyward, things get a little air-headed.

How Are Tour de France Climbs Classified?

Each of the mountain categories get increasingly more difficult from 4 to HC. The peeps in charge determine classifications based on gradient, distance, and max elevation:

Category 4:

The easiest climbs. Like pretty much a descent for the peloton. Usually needs to be at least 4km and 4% gradient (or a steeper gradient and shorter distance)

Category 3:

Getting a little tougher here. The pros are probably having a tough time holding the high note to “Let It Go.” As a rule, around a 6% gradient for 4km or so. Sometimes shorter distances at around 8% gradient.

Category 2:

Longer climbs that are sometimes steeper. Heavier breathing for the peloton, but they’re probably still humming whatever tune keeps their minds off the men in devil costumes (or worse) running alongside them up the climbs. Generally more than 5km at 7% gradient or longer than 10km at around 5%.

Category 1:

This one has Froome studying his handlebars pretty closely as he concentrates on the glory of things like how well yellow jerseys go with his eyes. Roughly 5-10km at 8% gradient or 15km+ at 6%.

HC or “Hors Category”:

This is a slick French term that means the climb is above categorization. These are the days that sprinters buy streamers for . . . as decorations for their pity party. Long climbs. 15km, 20km, 30km. Steep, long, brutal. At least 15km above 8%.

Subjectivity of Tour de France Climbs

So all those numbers I listed above only kind of matter. Because there’s another word that also matters: subjectivity. For instance, if organizers feel like a climb is harder, it’ll get a higher rating. Or if a Cat 1 comes near the end of a stage, it turns into an HC. So I’m happy to have sort of answered your question as it kind of applies.

Well, that’s what I’ve got. Hope it helps, Tim. You can be cool like Tim too, just send me whatever questions you’ve got , and get answers.

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I read once that the classifications were based on what gear your car need to be in to climb the hill.

I think that was an old classification used decades now. You have better cars these days, so it wouldn’t be needed now

Climb categorization explained

In 1933, the Tour de France introduced the mountain classification. Riders received points when they were first to reach the summit, but at that time, there was only one category. Over the years, additional categories have been introduced, ranging from the most challenging Hors Catégorie ('beyond categorization') down to the 4th category. These categories have been adopted by other prominent cycling races such as the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. However, a significant issue persists: the subjective nature of categorizing climbs.

The category of an ascent indicates how tough it is.

Unfortunately, the mountain classification of the grand tours is not designed to set a standard for recreational cyclists. For example, the categorization of a climb can change due to its location on the course, or simply because it suits the organizer better (€). Regrettably, there is no exact science behind determining the mountain categories. To establish a standard on climbfinder, we have tried to introduce a logical and consistent formula, which in fact aligns very well with most categories in professional cycling races.

Categorization based on difficulty points

Strava and other GPS services use a simple formula based on the average ascent and length of the climb. We believe this approach is too simplistic, because the (sometimes undulating) course of the climb has a huge influence on how much effort it costs to reach the top of the climb. That's why we spent a lot of time accurately calculating the difficulty level of climbs . In fact, we are so convinced of the accuracy of the difficulty points that we also use them to determine the mountain categories.

The sole subjective aspect of our standard lies in the transitions between the categories. However, in this regard, we conducted extensive research. We analyzed hundreds of climbs and compared them with the classifications they received in the grand tours. Through this process, we arrived at the scale outlined below.

From Super Hors Catégorie down to the 5th category

Super Hors Catégorie (SHC) . These are the most difficult climbs in Europe. Because the list of Hors Catégorie became too large and we have several real monsters in Europe, we added this extra category. These are the most terrible, challenging, and often absurdly steep climbs! Brace yourself. These are the climbs above 1500 climbing points. A notable example is the Angliru .
Hors Catégorie (HC) . Ascents on climbfinder only get the famous "HC" classification if the climb scores more than 900 difficulty points. The Mont Ventoux and the Stelvio are proud owners of the "Hors Catégorie" classification. The Hors Catégorie was introduced in the Tour de France as recent as 1979. It's a category that appeals to many cyclists' imaginations.
1st category . Climbs of the first category are certainly not to be underestimated. For example, nothing less than the famous Col d'Izoard is a category 1 climb, to the great disappointment of some cycling tourists. Climbs with 600+ difficulty points will be in this category.
2nd category . The somewhat shorter climbs often do not exceed a "Category 2" label. The Ballon d’Alsace is a good example of the type of climbs you can expect to find in this category. Climbs must have a minimum of 300 difficulty points to fit in this category.
3rd category . In the Alps these are the easy options, but in the lower mountain ranges or highlands these can be the highlights of the day. A climb needs at least 150 difficulty points to fit in this category.
4th category . With 75 difficulty points a climb falls into the fourth category. Don't think you can just sprint up these hills, it's still going to hurt.
5th category . The fifth category includes all climbs from 25 climbing points onwards. Although these are certainly not very difficult climbs, they can be quite steep walls (albeit short) or climbs that you definitely feel, albeit secretly. In lower hill areas, these are often the toughest climbs. Great for training.
No category . Everything below 25 climbing points has no category. These are the easiest climbs in Europe. To be listed on climbfinder, a climb must have at least 5 climbing points, or be very special.

Comments (2)

I started road biking shortly before retiring but only seriously post retirement. I am now fitter pro rata than I have been at any age pro rata and believe that cycling and stretching are the key. Add in the fact that I have lots of interests, stay really busy and plan to live to 114 has made life more enjoyable than at any other time. I am 65. as of late 2023 Increased interest in living as long as possible as taken this wine drinking lover of poor food onto a better diet, better hydration, better sleep and less stress. Of course, only working if I want to and being financially comfortable has helped but all of this is within the grasp of most people if they want to take control of their life. Don't expect handouts, do what you can and become more self reliant. most importantly develop the mantra that worry is a wasted emotion..

Thanks for the wonderful explanation. I will now look at all the climbs I've done in the past and see how you treated them!

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How Are Those Mountain Climbs Classified In The Tour de France

In this year’s Tour de France, in the eighth stage, Because Bogacha turned on the violent mode, and in the final climbing stage, he directly exceeded 17 people. Although not the segment champion, but still beat all opponents, the overall result rank first, he put on the yellow jersey as he wishes, the powerful output of the entire process absolutely absorbs countless fans.

The stage is the first alpine stage of this tour de France, the riders will pass one category 3 climb, one category 4 climb and three category 1 climbs for a total of 150.8km. It is a combination of different climbing stages. So how is the classification of climb divided in the tour of France and how did it come about ? Let me show you now.

It is said that in the early stage of last century, cars were not as powerful as they are today, if a hill can be climbed by a 35-horsepower car in 4th gear,it is called grade 4 climb. A hill that can be climbed in 3rd gear, it is called grade 3 climb, so on and so forth to grade 1. If it is a hill that a car can not climb, it is grade HC. Believe it or not, this statement indicates the difficulty of the relevant climbing levels. So how are these climbing classes classified today？

At the first Tour de France in 1933, there was only one class for the hilltop finish, with 10 points awarded to the first person to pass. After World War Two in 1947, there were two classes for the hill top finish, with the first and second finishers receiving 10 and 5 points each. In 1962, the difficulty of climbing was divided into 4 levels.The four levels climbing category could not meet the requirements of the event and the level HC(Hors Categorie) came into being and was added to the tour de France climbing level division.

How to classify the climbing levels.

In fact, the current tour de France climbing grade is based on the height of the mountain, climbing distance, the average slope and other factors to divide into 5 grades, respectively 4, 3, 2, 1 and HC level, the difficulty of grade 4 is the easiest, the smaller the number, the higher the difficulty,HC level is the highest and most difficult level.

Grade HC is short for French”Hors Categorie”, it is a term used in cycling, refer in particular to the climbing of beyond the level. HC was used to refer to the mountain road that car can not pass, we can see the difficulty of climbing and steepness from the literal meaning.

Slope calculation formula of tour de France

((Average slope (%))^(3/2)* Altitude climb (m))/100

20 < grade 3 ≦50

50 < grade 2 ≦120

120 < grade 1 ≦200

Grade HC > 200

Calculate with an average slope of 5% and a total climb of 1200 meters above sea level, which is:5^(3/2)*1200/100=134. 134 is between 120 and 200, it belongs to grade 1, then we can conclude that the difficulty rating of the climb is grade 1.

Climbing points

Grade HC: 25-20-16-14-12-8-6-4-2-1 points.

Grade 1: 10-8-6-4-2-1 points

Grade 2: 5-3-2-1 points

Grade 3: 2-1 points

Grade 4: 1 pint.

The first rider to pass the hill gets the highest points, and the remaining riders who pass the hill get the remaining points. The rider with the highest total climbing points over the 21 stages of the Tour de France will wear the King of Climbs polka dot shirt.

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Tour de France: Making Sense of Cycling’s Biggest Race

How the Tour de France Works

The Tour de France is a 21-stage race that pits teams of riders against each other over 24 days each year, typically in July. This year, all but three days of the tour include a stage. The others serve as rest days to give riders a chance to recover.

Each of the 22 teams participating in the tour includes eight riders who work together to accomplish various goals throughout the race.

Though riders compete in teams, only one rider wins the race. Most riders competing in the Tour de France do not expect to win the race or even a single stage. Their roles are to support their teams’ leaders, whether providing food and hydration or blocking wind by riding in front.

The overall winner of the Tour de France, the winner of the general classification, is the rider with the lowest cumulative time across all 21 stages.

While only one person wins the general classification, there are other titles for riders who specialize in climbing and sprinting, along with honors for the best team and the most aggressive rider.

The Jerseys

The Tour de France awards four conspicuous jerseys to race leaders in each category, including yellow, green, polka dot, and white.

The yellow jersey, or maillot jaune , is the most prestigious jersey of the tour. The leader of the general classification wears the yellow jersey throughout the race. That means the rider with the lowest cumulative time at the end of each day starts the next day in yellow. This jersey can and does change hands multiple times as the race progresses and often favors riders who excel in the mountains and time trials.

The overall winner of the general classification takes home €500,000, or roughly $535,000.

The white jersey marks the best young rider in the general classification. Only riders under 25 years old at the beginning of the year of the race are eligible to wear the white jersey. It functions the same way as the yellow jersey.

The green jersey , commonly known as the points or sprinter’s jersey, goes to the leader in the points category.

The Tour de France awards points toward the green jersey to the first 15 riders who cross the line of intermediate sprints and the finish of each stage. Stage wins earn the most points. Many riders in the hunt for the green jersey will not attempt to win mountain stages. They save energy for the flats so they can rack up as many points as possible without exhausting themselves.

On flat stages, the winning rider earns 50 points for a stage win. Hilly stages come with 30 points, and mountainous stages offer 20, so it pays to win flat days. Each rider behind the leader down to 15th place also earns points in descending order. For example, on a sprint stage, the second-place finisher will earn 30 points, while the rider in 15th place earns two.

Intermediate sprint and time-trial stage wins are worth 20 points a piece.

The polka dot jersey, a flamboyant favorite of many, goes to the best climber. It also is commonly referred to as the “King of the Mountains” jersey. Like the green jersey, the polka dot jersey goes to the rider who has racked up the most points during categorized climbing sections of each stage, of which there are dozens.

Points vary from climb to climb based on the difficulty of each ascent and are separate from overall points toward the green jersey. Climbs are graded from Category 4 to Category 1, along with the “Hors Category,” or super-category, which are too difficult to grade.

The first eight riders who reach the summits of super-category climbs earn points in descending order from 20 to 2. Category 1 climb points go to the first six riders to reach the summit starting at 10 for the winner and falling to 2 for sixth place.

Four riders earn points ranging from five to one for Category 2 climbs. The first two riders to summit Category 2 climbs earn two points each, and the first rider to summit a Category 4 climb earns one point.

Riders can hold multiple jerseys at the same time. If that happens, the leading rider wears the more prestigious jersey, and the others go to the rider in second place.

Last year, Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates walked away with the yellow, white, and polka dot jerseys, while Mark Cavendish snagged the green jersey.

Riders without the honor of a jersey still have other awards to chase, including individual stage victories, the most aggressive rider prize, and the best team classification.

The most aggressive rider wears a red number plate, while the best team rides with yellow number plates.

The Tour de France Course

The vast majority of the race happens throughout France, though it sometimes begins in nearby countries for a couple of stages before crossing over into France.

This year, the tour begins in Copenhagen on July 1 and includes stages in Belgium, Switzerland and, of course, France. By the race’s end, riders will have covered approximately 2,068 miles.

Each stage brings unique challenges that each rider and team must navigate to keep themselves at or near the front of the pack. Tour organizers categorize stages as flat, hilly, or mountainous.

There are two time-trial stages in the Tour de France in 2022. The first kicks off the event on July 1, and the second comes the day before the race’s finish in Paris. These stages involve riders starting one at a time at set intervals over a short distance.

The first-time trial that opens the tour is just more than 8 miles long. The last one stretches out to a little more than 25 miles.

Each rider races alone against the clock to jockey for the position as the fastest rider. Time trial specialists can pull back significant time against their competition by putting the hammer down during these events.

Riders use customized specialty bikes and apparel to reduce aerodynamic drag as much as possible to ensure they save every millisecond. These courses typically involve rolling terrain where riders stay on the pedals from start to finish.

All other stages of the tour begin with a mass start where most riders stick together in a large group, known as the peloton. Whether across flat, hilly, or mountainous stages, riding in the peloton helps riders save energy for the opportune moment when they might be able to attack.

The longest stage of the tour in 2022 is nearly 137 miles. The shortest outside of the two time trials comes on the final day at 72 miles.

Flat stages, also called sprint stages, don’t have much elevation gain, but they make up for it in explosive endings. The flat stages of the Tour de France cater to sprinters, who usually spend the entire day tucked safely in the peloton to protect themselves from wind resistance.

They save their energy for the last part of the stage when they rely upon teammates to get them into an excellent position to erupt from behind and surge to the finish line.

Mountain stages test cyclists who specialize in climbing and descending. These stages include thousands of feet of elevation gain on extremely steep grades, followed by white-knuckle descents that often see riders hit 40 mph or higher.

Due to the varied nature of these stages, the field of athletes often becomes considerably stretched out, with leading riders working in small groups to push ahead as others lose steam and drop back.

Top riders can use mountain stages to pull away from the rest of the field and gain valuable time toward their overall general classification time. Additionally, the top three finishers of each stage other than time trials earn 10-, 6-, and 4-second time bonuses toward their overall general classification time.

How to Watch the Tour de France

The Tour de France will air on NBC and NBC Sports networks. NBC’s Peacock service and NBC Sports will stream live coverage from Phil Liggett and Bob Roll. Cyclists Jens Voigt and Van Velde will also contribute to the commentary.

Tour de France Netflix Docuseries Confirmed — Without Pogačar

Box to Box Films partners with Tour organizers to produce a pro cycling docuseries, similar to its popular Formula 1 doc 'Drive to Survive.' Read more…

Mark Wilson is a freelance journalist for GearJunkie and BikeRumor. Mark has been writing about cycling, climbing, outdoor events and gear for more than a year. Before that, he spent more than a decade as a journalist at major daily newspapers in Texas covering crime, public safety and local government. Mark spent every free moment during that time carving up singletrack and gravel, or climbing with friends and family in Texas, Colorado and Mexico. Based in Texas, Mark is always looking for new trails, crags and gear to help navigate the outdoors. As a new dad, he is particularly interested in learning how to share his love of the outdoors with his son.

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Highlights: 2022 tour de france, stage 4.

Is The Tour de France Boring?

The last few stages of the Tour de France have not been the most exciting. Cyclesport’s Lionel Birnie has a good piece on the topic . The stage starts, the gears clunk and a few riders are given a day ticket to escape the bunch on the condition they return, like residents of an open prison who must return before nightfall.

Things only come alive in the race in the final minutes. Four hours of racing for four minutes of action. L’Equipe today describes yesterday’s stage with tales of broken alarm clocks, hammocks, snoozing, snoring and says the riders “only fell out of bed with three kilometres to go”. Is the Tour de France boring?

No, it is still the best race of the year but it can’t offer non-stop adrenalin. It is impossible to have action every day for three weeks. The weather has been benign in the opening week, no heavy rain for hours to dampen the spirits of the bunch, no crosswinds to prise apart the peloton. And there’s geography, whilst France has several mountain ranges, slice the country in half on a diagonal basis from the south-west to the north-east and the land in the upper left section is flat. By definition if you tour France then you have to cover a lot of neutral terrain. The reason why we get three sprint stages in a row unbroken by a hill finish is that there’s simply not the terrain available for a variety of finishes, especially when you consider the commercial imperatives of finishing in a large town who will pay for the stage.

Retro But if you think this was boring, go back a few years. Particularly in the 1990s the race was incredibly formulaic with a prologue and then a first week of sprint stages, perhaps only interrupted by a team time trial. Only I suspect we’ve forgotten the stupor and when we recall past vintages only the highlights come to mind, whether the big attacks in the mountains or the sprint prowess of Cipollini. These days we get some excitement in the first week, for example we have had two uphill finishes this year already.

Bonus time? There are some calls for time bonuses to come back, where riders win a deduction in time, eg 10 seconds for first place in a stage, six seconds for second place. We had these in the 1990s when the race was even more boring in the first week but it did mean the yellow jersey changed shoulders a few times. This week Fabian Cancellara has to go to the post-stage press conference and repeat himself: “ thanks to the team “, “ it is great to wear the yellow jersey “, “ I want to keep it tomorrow “. Actually I’ve made up these quotes but he’s probably said identical things. With time bonuses you could get some changes in the race.

Nevertheless whether it is deliberate or subconscious, race organisers ASO are increasingly designing the race for TV and if the audience are switching off, or tuning in for the final minutes then this is bad for business. Time bonuses could be a solution here, particularly if applied only in the first week. And here’s an idea: award them at the intermediate sprint. This way people have to tune in to watch the race mid-stage. Although if this happens then no breakaway will be allowed to get time as the yellow jersey or teams aiming for yellow will put a lock on the race.

Reduce to the absurd For the sake of thought, what makes the Tour so exciting? It is the summit finishes when riders start attacking. But if every stage had a summit finish for three weeks then the pecking order would be established within a few days and there’d be no point watching.

And on a flat day it’s absurd to expect riders to attack like crazy when several teams have sprint trains with the strongest rouleurs in the world getting paid to control the race.

Conclusion It’s not basketball where someone scores points every few seconds; cycling is all about the gradual attrition of riders over the hours, it’s why the winning margin after three weeks can be measured in less time than it takes you to read this piece.

We’ve had three sprint stages in a row across dull terrain but everything is about to change. Tomorrow finishes on top of a mountain with double-digit gradients and the real excitement starts… although this can mean the action begins with 20 minutes to go instead of five.

Perhaps the boredom is our fault? We expect the biggest race to be the best, not just in the sum after three weeks but that every day should provide action on a higher level. This is impossible and decades ago the press resorted to giant exaggeration to make the race come alive in print, the mere act of applying another five watts to the pedal stroke was transformed into tales of “merciless attacks”, “pitiful weakness” and “spectacular collapse”. If you’re bored by three hours of live TV of a pack of cyclists riding across featureless French countryside… then that’s probably your fault for sitting down to watch the whole stage when every single preview warned you “sprint finish likely”.

I think Cycle Sport have a point when they point at the lock-down on the jerseys which haven’t changed this week but just how far can ASO engineer things? You can’t count on Michael Morkov going up the road three days in a row. Instead the race is about a few key moments of drama and they are worth waiting for. I suspect ASO might look to change the rules but patron Christian Prudhomme has stated several times he doesn’t like the artifice of time bonuses, preferring the winner to be determined by the actual time taken rather than synthetic awards.

For now if you’re watching the Tour live on TV, enjoy the sprints and treat the opening days as training for the stages that will be broadcast in full. This Sunday the whole stage will be shown live on TV, from the start to the finish .

77 thoughts on “Is The Tour de France Boring?”

If it is boring, don’t watch. People watch cricket and gridiron. Damn Gen Y! 🙂

There is a lack of competition this year with Andy shleck and Alberto Contador absent from the race. Barring some unforseen disaster bradley wiggins will lead the rest of the way. The worst part is there is noone to challenge him.

It’s simply seeing what stage racing is all about. They’re all the same.

It’s just the more ‘immersed’ in the sport you get the more you tend to start thinking “seen this all before” on the flatter stages.

As long as there are old French farmers willing to drive their tractors in circles live in beautiful HD, the TdF will never be boring! -@Fat2Cat

Definitely not… its nearly midnight here in Australia and I’m staying up to watch the race.. About 86km to go!

The area of France and Belgium that the race has started in means that there are very few hills that can trouble any of the riders and without the presence of Cat 1 and 2 climbs the peloton are going to stick together and no one will risk expending any energy to try and steal a few seconds.

A small change- keep the same number of intermediate sprints for the race as an overall, but take them away completely from the high mountain stages and add extras to the flat stages. Might encourage the sprinter teams to drive things a little more; to go after escapes.

Call me odd but I tend to find even the most ‘dull’ stages interesting. I think watching professional cyclists ride effortlessly through beautiful countryside is immensely relaxing. Any excitement during or towards the end of the day is just a bonus.

I’m enjoying it. For me the best introduction in recent years was the one intermediate sprint point per stage that always generates some mid stage excitement. Meanwhile all the tension building is coming to a head this weekend…hopefully 😀

I’d like to see more hilly, but not mountainous stages. Occasionally, those provide for fantastic racing at the Giro. You’ll get breaks, attacks, and if things are done right, even an attack or two by one of the big guns. Sometimes they gain a few seconds, sometimes they don’t, but it really livens up the racing. I can’t speak to the effort, maybe too many nervous stages like that would be too difficult, but that kind of terrain certainly works for one-day races.

One problem here is that the hilly region of central France is relatively unpopulated and harder to organise a stage finish. There are fewer towns and cities and of these, fewer have the money to pay.

To be honest, many of the sprint stages have been dull butbwhen you think about it the stage to Rouen and today’s stage have the terrain to blow the race apart in cross winds. I suspect that with windier weather, these stages would have been great to watch and decisive for the race.

The uphil finishes were good but I’d like to see ASO find some circa 2 km really steep climbs instead of <1 km at 5-10%. In the Vuelta and Giro they do it and this causes some small time splits which can change the overall lead and suit a different type of rider altogether.

A Basque journalist who has published a book about anecdotes of Tour de France’s history, Ander Izagirre, wrote yesterday on his blog a short – but good – explanation about the magnificence of this supposed boredom. Here’s the link (in Spanish): http://gentedigital.es/comunidad/anderiza/2012/07/05/tardes-de-julio/

I like it as it is, and I think ASO know that there’s a lot to be said for letting the race build up steam over the first week before getting into the really tough stages. It gives a chance to introduce the race, introduce the riders and let everyone settle in with a few sprints before it really toughens up. Also, if they messed around with it, would they get as many sprinters entering if there wasn’t a good week of flattish stages at the start?

That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see time bonuses come back at some point in the next couple of years, especially when someone points out that Cavendish has won a ridiculous number of stages but never worn yellow.

I don’t know if we’ll get time bonuses. I think we will get a pure sprinter stage for a Grand Depart soon so Cavendish will have his shot at the jersey even if only for a day.

I don’t find the tour’s early stories boring, rather that they are incredibly formulaic. Yesterday’s stage was the most interesting so far as the breakaway almost succeeded. Perhaps the race directors could make these flat stages to suit the breakaway rather than large sprint trains. It’s nice to see how dominant Sagan is, but sport is also about the underdog succeeding, right?

It is an endurance sport. Name me an endurance event that offers full-time excitement!

In fact I am sure that the hundreds or thousands of kilometres at a steady pace at the beginning and middle of the flat and transition stages that play a big role in stripping the energy from the riders and makes the best stand out from the rest.

I don’t find any of it boring… but i would argue that the eurosport team helps a lot with that on the long sprint stages. they’ve been adding a fair amount of local knowledge this year particularly that i’m liking 🙂

Very good piece, a serious contribution to a very good debate. Some minor points: 1) It is not “the summit finishes when riders start attacking” that makes the Tour, or any other race exciting. It is the attacks, but especially the chase, and the time gaps moving unpredictably. On any terrain. Basically this and also the images of supreme agonistic effort. On any terrain again. (My favourite: when a little bunch of 4-5 riders is chasing another little bunch of 4-5 riders on a flat segment, after a marathon of mammoth cols, or Liège-like hills). 2) It’s true that the Tour’s first week has always been basically this flat (not always) or more (but it wasn never this boring). A flat 1st week it plays its role of attrition, and that we all should be able to live with this by now. 3) The fact that breakaways no longer succeed should make us think. Too many sprinters? Too many sprint-focused teams? Too modest guys escaping? History: take 1991, and the 234km successful breakaway by Thierry Marie, who had won the prologue (just imagine Fabian C. trying to achieve this). Take 1986, or 1987 (the first anglo-saxon victories) packed with ambushes by favourites in about every flat or flattish stage. …i would blame the important riders’ conservatism first… GPS has also been a curse for breakaways (it should be banned). 4) Distance. I will never say this enough. If as recently as 1990, we had, again in Normandy, a stage 301km long (which obviously didn’t finish in a sprint but with a smart solo attack with 100km to go) without carbon frames, heartrate monitors, contemporary roads and whatnot… what should be the distance of a stage that demands the same effort, with up-to-date material? 350km? more? 5) What’s more: more distance=less speed=more safety and less drafting. 6) The fact that we can live with a boring but tense first week, doesn’t mean we cannot improve on it (and I think the Tour is trying, with this uphill finishes). I think the best would be to have something special every day, and a lot of inspiration can be drawn from the classics. A good first week could be: Sunday: prologue (everyone likes this little TT) Monday: a tremendously long flat stage (300km minimum). Maybe a sprint, maybe not, yellow could change shoulders. Tuesday: double sector (this was always GREAT). Morning: short flat stage. Maybe a sprint, maybe not, because people will want to save energy for the Evening: very long TT (90km minimum), so that the GC continues to take shape, and we create incentives for future long-range operations. Wednesday: Roubaix cobbles (Arenberg, Carrefour de l’Arbre, etc..) More GC action, and unpredictable stage finish. Tuesday: Ronde van Vlaanderen cobbles (Kappelmuur and all that). More GC action, and very unlikely sprint. Wednesday: another flat ultra-marathon (best along the coast, to get some echelon-inspiring wind). Thursday: Liège-like hills. Distance should be quite enormous too, so that 5.000m ascent is possible. Friday: fairly long individual TT. 70km. Pure GC action. Everyone will have to watch. We will know who will not win the Tour. Saturday: mid-mountain with 8-10 2ème mountain passes or so. Sunday: first gigantic mountain stage (4-5 H.C or 1ère mountain-passes) but without a mountain-top finish. Climbers will be impatient to get something done.

Even with this route, given contemporary riders, I’m sure we would have quite a few boring days. But at least the route would prevent it to the maximum.

But, most of all, we should continue to criticize harshly prudent, conservative riders (99% of the existing peloton) for giving so few reasons to watch and admire.

I think this would go breach the Geneva Convention for torture

I hope you’re joking. Only someone who has never raced professionally would suggest such a suicidal course.

Not joking at all. Merckx or Bahamontes (to mention people who are still around) would think it’s a joke to think it’s a joke.

Perhaps they should have another ‘jersey’ that the worst/laziest/idiot rider of the day wears the next day i.e opposite to the combative. A bit like a ‘dunce cap’.

Best idea yet! They could call it “The Farrar”.

That could be awarded to the journo’s too… Especially the ones who type up a few hundred words like that guy’s, in between stuffing their face with free food at the press tent.

Well there goes today’s “boring” tag after several crashes. I wanted to explore L’Equipe’s complaints and Cycle Sport’s points and Lionel Birnie makes the point that you watch these points almost waiting for crashes. It’s a shame the stage comes alive because of this negative form of drama.

Wow, Inner Ring, you are prescient! A couple of days ago, you mentioned nothing was happening, then the “Witness Storm” broke. Today, you post about the Tour being boring, and all hell breaks loose, although I hate the crashes. As a Garmin fan girl, this is an especially bad day–bad week, really. 🙁

Such is the world of professional sports.

Sagan is amazeballs though.

And you’d want them to do another two weeks after that lot!!?

At least 20 of them should be able to make it to Paris. 🙂

Sorry, Bundle, this was directed at your proposed opening week:

And you’d want them to do another two weeks after that lot!!?

On a vaguelt serious note, would ;t you need some serious logisitcs to get all that lot in, from Flanders to the Alps in a few days. Then again you have got plenty of ultra long stages in there…

The TdF isn’t a short story, it is a novel. The first week is for introduction of the characters, then planting the seeds of the drama to follow. Sure, the racing is formulaic, but the stories are different each year and unfold stage by stage. Cavendish left unsupported by his team and crashes out of the sprint. Farrar, crashing. Then crashing again. Then crashing yet again and peeved at another team and rider. Which riders will feel slighted and carry a grudge for stages to come? Meanwhile, the big dogs try to maintain a presence yet stay out of trouble; knowing that a moments inattention of bit of bad luck could mean the end of their hopes.

The TdF needs to ramp up slowly – if every stage was an edge-of-the-seat nail biter I would be unemployed before the end of July.

I am not a fan of “tricky” early stages. This is the Tdf, not some Japanese game show! When was it that one of the early stages featured a stretch of Paris-Roubaix type cobbles? That put crazy stress on the GC teams as they knew if the weren’t among the first ones to the narrow entrance of that treacherous stretch their tour was likely over in the first week. I seem to remember one of the GC contenders crashing out in that stretch.

“The TdF isn’t a short story, it is a novel. The first week is for introduction of the characters, then planting the seeds of the drama to follow.”

Couldn’t agree more.

Lots of interesting comments, and nice to see many have a patient view of things.

“It’s not basketball where someone scores points every few seconds.” Nail. Hammer. Head.

I don’t see the flat stages being boring in the race. There’s lot of tactics involved even in these benign stages. Although I would love to see time bonuses being awarded in the first week. I feel that pro-cycling is a sport for serious followers and tweaking it to suit casual audience will take away some of the romance of bike racing.

As a certain football manager once said “if you want entertainment, go to a circus”!

Looking at other cycling races in the lower categories (Juniors, U23..), it appears that those races are hardly ever boring, lots of attacks going all the time and sometimes the GC is shaped by attacks on flat stages and leaders caught behind. This is never happening in Pro Cycling anymore. Why? Very easy answer: Because the teams are too big. With 9 athletes in a team, you close every gap, chase every group down. The solution would be to decrease the number of riders per team to 6 and to increase the number of teams by 3 or 4, thus leaving the overall number of raiders in the peloton (and the staff) unchanged. In mathematical modelling, you call this “increasing the degrees of freedom”. The more degrees of freedom you have, the more difficult it is to get a suitable model to predict an outcome.

Smaller teams have been looked at by the Giro and the Tour organiser said he would be interested in studying it. But the UCI might say no and teams themselves would reject it.

As well as large teams, even small ones of six would be organised, especially when joining forces to bring a break back. But it would make it different; it’d worth experimenting in a week-long stage race.

Sure the teams are not interested, as the current team managers will lose power! If you want to shape the future of your sport, you must not ask those that profit from the current situation, as, of course, they do not have any incentive to put their privileged situation in jeopardy.

Why would the teams reject smaller teams? Less costs no if overall team members drops by 5 riders. $1 million less in budget. Easier to get sponsors.

Very true! And more places for riders becoming leaders in their (smaller) teams, more sponsors seeing the possibility to get invites for big races and media coverage, so better for the sport.

Because right now there’s about one stage per team. Have 40 teams and the odds of winning a stage reduce quickly. It could be good to watch but existing teams won’t want to give up their privileges for nothing.

Female Pro teams are made up of 5 riders if I remember correctly, and it certainly leads to more unpredictable racing, with less control by a team/s. Each rider also tends to be less specialised, IMO making races more interesting. Too bad there’s next to no coverage of their races.

Fully agree. Women´s racing with 5 or 6 has much more open race scenarios compared to men´s racing. And so does U23 and Junior racing. I do not think that “teams joining forces” will have that much of an impact on racing. The current “Super Team” structure with very few competitive team is paralyzing the racing and the only drama other than Time trials and mountain Top finishes comes from crashes and mechanicals (such as during today´s stage).

Give time bonuses on flat stages only so that they do not affect the long term GC.

The Tour is never boring, just on occasion maybe quiet. The curse of modern society is the short attention span! I love those long long Vuelta stages across baked dry landscapes, fantastic. Also I would like to see more women’s pro racing on tv.

The Tour is absolutely lively compared to the paint-drying shows typically programmed for July.

Bundle as always, I do like your imagination,

ATTRITION, ATTRITION, and ATTRITION

Lets be clear a stage race is many races in one, In most cases all of the jerseys with the exception of the yellow ( GC) maybe won without racing everyday every stage. The lone exception to that is the GC.

We who follow in this blog appreciate that fact, boring should not be in our lexicon of words to describe the longest, hardest, intense and most prestige’s stage race in the world!

Time bonuses are really missing. “Same time”, everytime, yes, it’s boring.

Not fair to ask that question after three *boring* days of sprint stages, but there’s a reason I prefer the one day classics. GTs are so conservatively raced. Even the mountain stages are very conservatively raced, as you said. “The last 20 minutes, rather than 5”. Cyclists in Grand Tours (and stage races in general really), have to worry about the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. You can’t go full gas for three weeks, so nobody ever puts the pedal down, and really goes for it, whereas in races like L-B-L, or P-R, there’s no tomorrow to worry about, and everybody’s giving it all they possibly can.

Not sure how to fix that…

Also, when your favourite rider loses 13 minutes in a grand tour, he’s done for the next two weeks. Lose a bunch of time in a race on Wednesday and you still have a shot at winning on Sunday.

Crying into my beer here over Ryder’s stage today…

Here, here Matt…just gutted over Ryder’s day, and Garmin’s bad luck overall. Feel bad for him, as he usually has away of coming away cleanly during these dicey stages. It’s been an especially trying first week, both for the guys in the saddle, and the fans.

I’m with Matt! If it becomes a long slow death match between Evans, Wiggins and Menchov up until the final ITT I won’t be watching as it becomes predictable and totally boring. I am sure that there will be some fun on several of the individual stage wins but it won’t matter if they are down 10 + mins in GC. having 5-6 guys all capable of having a good day and taking the lead or at least being within a minute of each other is way dramatic and worth watching.

Hey you Canadians, back away from the molsons. Watch for the Italians and Spaniards in the mountains thy will not be boring, they may not win GC but not boring.

I agree with Lower Depths below, watch some NHL Highlights ( oh yeah LA won the cup) sorry…

Never boring…

GC Battle has been boring as hell this year, but every stage has had it’s moments of amazing glory and drama. LL Sanchez attacking from 10k away, Thibeault Pinot winning from the break at 22, in his first tour. Millar winning a stage, Voeckler attacking Kessiakoff for days and going first over a bunch of Cols to try and keep the polka-dot jersey.

If you look at it as one big race? Boring. A new race, every day, for three weeks? Fun!

if the Tour, arguably the greatest and most well known event in modern cycling, is boring … well what does that make the lesser events and why are you wasting your time writing a blog about it?

just asking … and in all seriousness, there are better ways to get a rise out of cyclists, see the following:

“Hey everybody, Andy or Frank will ever win a Grand Tour and should get their salaries cut…”

“Hey folks, Cav can only win on certain stages (very flat ones) and is not the best sprinter…”

“I think time cuts should be shorter overall …”

See? Now watch the fun as everyone chirps up!

and in all seriousness, what stage did you watch today that prompted you to ask if the Tour was boring? Did you have Iron Chef on again by mistake?

I like the idea of six man teams with NO radios. The chances of the break sticking will go up 40%. Teams will have to be very attentive and organized. They will also have to be more specialized. Strictly stage hunters or GC teams. Keep the same number of teams and the pack will be smaller and safer. Team budgets will also be smaller. Call it austerity racing.

The Tour is exciting–when most of the GC riders don’t crash out in the first week (this year) or week and a half (last year). Sadly, watching BMC and Evans is like watching paint dry and Wiggo has the personality of a lemur. Excessive TTs can also be a snooze (the one at the Giro was a notable exception). And now with the GC being decimated and we’re pretty much left with Evans and Wiggo (give or take a darkhorse or two), I feel justified in switching over to the Tour of Poland, which I’ve always wanted to see. Go Thor and Tomeke!

That is true, watching GC champions ride on the wheels of other competitors for three weeks can be a snooze.

Watching people box may be boring too, so is flying on a jet. so are many things at any given moment. Very little is exempt from being boring or tedious or predictable. Watching Phil and Paul is OK, they are quite knowledgeable but sometimes their bias for riders of the English speaking world is evident, maybe because they speak to a US audience and there are many ads on NBC so it is easy to fade mentally with so many disruptions.

Watching Euro Sport where their commentators are also knowledgeable with less ads (or shorter ads) makes it a better learning experience and they are balanced in their views.

But am sure that is a matter of what people want as a spectator.

All in all, it is a great sport and their athletes are superb and the competition from the day classics to the longer tours are something to look forward to view online or on TV. whether or not it is touched by the realness of being slow or predictable once in a while.

I don’t find it boring, however I would love to see GoPro or similar cameras on everyone’s bikes. If you go to the the GoPro site and look at their footage of the AmGen, it is stunning… far better than anything I have ever seen from a motorcycle. How they would manage 100 some-odd feeds, plus all the normal feeds might prove interesting, but I think it could actual prove to be a revenue stream for the UCI if they allowed people to stream the race from the handlebars or seatpost of their favorite rider or the person in front of them.

That all said 4+ hours of anything does lend itself to boredom, which is why I download the stages and watch them at 1.4x. I don’t think changing the points or intermediate stages has proved successful in the past, I think focusing on making the racing more interactive and using the latest technology could resolve the viewing populous’ ADD.

this is my 7 year old’s analysis:

“Team Sky is protecting Wiggins, so there’s no way Cavendish can win. Sagan is strong. Greipel has a team. Cavendish should go to Rabobank. Otherwise, look for the time trial, Evans, Wiggins and Cancellara.”

Someone is raising their kid right.

It’s only boring if you’re watching in the US with Phil, Paul and Bobke commenting.

Bobke: Tour Day France.

The funny part is, he not only speaks French like a native, but Flemish and Dutch as well. Tour Day France is shtick.

The Tour de France is NEVER boring….! Basta.

Look at all the details, the route, the equipment, the riders when riding, the riders when crashing, the faces of the riders, the riders position on their bikes, the mechanics when changing wheels after punctures, all sorts of interesting details ….. In Denmark we have Rolf Sørensen and Jørgen Leth as commentators for danish TV-2. Live television without commercial breaks! They are doing quite well. Sørensen as an inside peloton expert and Leth is the perfect story teller. VIVE LE TOUR! Ugh.

Arguing that the TdF is boring because the the ‘action’ happens at the end of the stage is similar to arguing that Hamlet is boring because he procrastinates and could kill Claudius near the beginning of the play. If he does, then there is no play!

If the all the stages of the Tour were decided in the first 10 minutes, there wouldn’t be a race!

There’s no problem with boredom on those flat stages. Problem is the expectations and the fact that nowadays such stages are covered in nearly full length. I can remember back in the days TV was live 20-30 minutes before the finish of such stages. Now we have 3-4 hours to fill with babbling commentators and not much to see except beautiful landscape. And you can’t change the course of the race to be more hilly and thrilling, cause people sitting in their armchairs want action everyday for 3 hours. Next stop would be “What, they are doping because the race is so hard? Booo”

What’s boring is fat lazy English cycling journalists like that guy, whoever he is.

Indistinguishable from groupies, making themselves the story most of the time, when they’re not blabbering on about their man crush for Cav that is.

Unsure if they’re trying to be funny or just writing another grumpy rant.

Was over that guy before I even bothered to read his latest self indulgent piffle, because he’s dime a dozen in the sport unfortunately.

Pingback: Is anyone having fun, or is this boring? « the story of cycling

Just read this (following link from “http://thestoryofcycling.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/is-anyone-having-fun-or-is-this-boring/”.) Personally I am not finding this Tour boring at all. Perhaps the events of the stages since this post was written have coloured my judgement but I don’t remember being bored last week either. For me each moment of each Tour is infused with thoughts of what happened the day before, what might happen the next day, what happened in the last few Tours and what it all might mean for the next year. In other words, if nothing unexpected or exciting is occuring at a given moment, don’t worry there is another opportunity for that to change coming along shortly.

Good points. My concerns (or rather the race organisers) are to make the first week more interesting.

Pingback: 5 answers to: “Is the Tour boring? «

This year’s Tour has been boring, up through and including today (the weirdness of the tacks on the road notwithstanding). I wish I could say otherwise.

The sprint stages have always been boring, and really have no place in a grand tour, IMHO. The tours are — should be — endurance races for endurance racers. The whole idea of a sprinter winning anything that covers 100+ kilometers is goofy. If the organizers feel they absolutely must have a reason for sprinters to show up for endurance races, line the 4 or 5 of them up 1k from the finish and let them have a go while the real race is still out in the hills. Heck, you could have a sprint stage every day, and also have a real, meaningful endurance race every day.

The real problem, though, particularly this year, is the GC guys basically neutralize the race most days, which is why the peloton stays bunched up for hours. The result is the standings get decided more by who’s unlucky enough to get caught in the crashes caused by that traffic jam than by who’s getting out there and doing the best racing.

Just look at this year. We’ve finished 14 stages — 14! — and the only real GC racing that has happened was in the bleedin’ time trial. Wiggins killed in that. In every other stage, he’s just tooled along behind his boys all day, doing nothing worth mentioning. I like Wiggins; I’d like to root for him; but he isn’t racing. Evans clearly doesn’t have the legs or the team to make up the time he lost during the tt, has made only a couple of attempts to do so, and those incredibly feeble. Nibali, meanwhile, has done nothing but follow Wiggins around.

The only guys doing anything respectable are the guys who get out and attack. (I include Sagan in that group, who has shown he deserves not to be relegated to “sprinter” status.) EuropeCar ought to be declared the team winner for the effort their guys have put in, day after day, while the supposed stars are playing footsie.

When you’re two thirds of the way through a 21-stage race and have had only 1 day of real racing, yes, that’s boring. It’s practically the definition of boring. I watch it because I love cycling, and I love the history of this race. But I wish I could respect what’s happening in it these days.

says the author >Although if this happens then no breakaway will be allowed to get time as the yellow jersey or teams >aiming for yellow will put a lock on the race.

If they have to do that every day then even Sky would get very tired, which will open up the race.

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Pingback: inrng : the brave new world cycling series

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Tour de France 2023 stage 4 LIVE: Winner and results from sprint finish

The Tour de France continues with a second stage in succession likely to suit the sprinters as the race heads away from the Basque coast and into the heart of southwest France . A 182km route from Dax to Nogaro provides only one categorised climb, with the peloton’s fast-men lining up another dash for victory on the smooth tarmac of the Circuit Paul Armagnac.

Jasper Philipsen took the first bunch sprint of this year’s Tour in Bayonne yesterday , capitalising on a brilliant lead-out from his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates to win stage three. But plenty of the sprinters in the field showed good legs in a twisting finale, including Astana’s Mark Cavendish, who finished sixth.

The Manx man arrived at his final Tour de France seeking a 35th stage win that would take him clear of Eddy Merckx as the most succesful stage-hunter in race history, and will hope to challenge for victory in Nogaro.

Follow all the latest updates from stage four below:

Tour de France 2023

Stage Three looks another for the sprinters, with only a single categorised climb on the 182km route from Dax to Nogaro

Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen took the first sprint stage of this year’s Tour in Bayonne yesterday

Mark Cavendish could contend for a record 35th stage win - how the Manx Missile became a Tour de France legend

Tour de France Stage Four - Result

16:52 , Harry Latham-Coyle

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

2. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny)

3. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious)

4. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)

5. Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazasqtan)

🏆 🇧🇪 @JasperPhilipsen wins in Nogaro! 🏆🇧🇪 @JasperPhilipsen double la mise à Nogaro ! #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/X06zq1v7N2 — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023

JASPER PHILIPSEN WINS STAGE FOUR OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE

16:50 , Harry Latham-Coyle

A Cofidis rider and one of Alexander Kristoff’s UnoX lead-out men hit the deck in those final few hundred metres - let’s hope everyone emerges from the Circuit Paul Armagnac relatively unscathed.

Luka Mezgec was sprinting in lieu of Dylan Groenewegen for Jayco-AlUla - was the Dutchman caught up in the crash that brought down Fabio Jakobsen?

JASPER PHILIPSEN WINS STAGE FOUR OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE!

16:47 , Harry Latham-Coyle

BACK-TO-BACK STAGE VICTORIES FOR THE BELGIAN! Alpecin-Deceuninck have done it again!

It was mighty tight on the line, Caleb Ewan very nearly beating Philipsen on the lunge for the line. But Philipsen had just enough, again, to get there by half a wheel , with Mathieu van der Poel again instrumental with a superb lead-out.

16:46 , Harry Latham-Coyle

It’s chaotic and crazy - there’s another crash, an Astana rider down, but it’s not Mark Cavendish. The Manx Missile is on Mads Pedersen’s wheel...

There’s Wout van Aert! He’s come from nowhere and is back on Christophe Laporte’s wheel. Into the final run-in, headwind blowing...

1.5km to go

16:45 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Fabio Jakobsen hits the deck! A bad crash for the Quickstep man! He’s out of the running!

Matej Mohoric leads the way, effortless power from the talented Slovene. It’s all strung out - Christophe Laporte appears to be Jumbo-Visma’s Option B with Wout van Aert surely too far back to figure.

16:44 , Harry Latham-Coyle

A big right-hander and there’s the circuit entrance, Christophe Laporte looking around for Van Aert, who is out of position and some way back. The front of the field safely negotiate the turn into the race track grounds.

16:43 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Jumbo-Visma are taking no chances - they bring Jonas Vingegaard right to the front wiith three teammates and will protect the defending champion through to that crucial 3km mark. Wout van Aert isn’t with them - he’ll save his legs for the sprint.

16:42 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Cees Bol has got in front of Mark Cavendish, but the two Astana fast-men take the wrong wa around the roundabout, losing touch with their teammate at the front. Cavendish and Bol smartly latch on to TotalEnergies’ train, Peter Sagan’s teammates helping out the Slovakian’s old rival.

16:41 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Disaster for DSM! A rider goes the wrong way around an island and they’ll have to adjust on the fly, their carefully constructed train thrown off the rails. They slip back to reassess and reassemble.

Soudal QuickStep had been sitting further down the field but are starting to show at the front.

16:39 , Harry Latham-Coyle

De Buyst pulls off, along with a couple of other longer-standing peloton leaders. Fred Wright is ready to take over from Pello Bilbao, the Basque abdicating at the front of the Bahrain Victorious squad. Astana are struggling to align themselves - Cees Bol has just lost touch with Mark Cavendish a little.

16:37 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Jasper de Buyst is doing earlier work than usual for Lotto-Dstny, Caleb Ewan’s regular lead-out man hampered by a wrist injury and thus adjusting to a different role. Everyone just waiting, perhaps wary of going too soon in case there is a split to close after that pinch point at 3.1km to go.

16:35 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Wout van Aert is second wheel in the Jumbo-Visma line - will it be third time lucky for the Belgian today after back-to-back frustration?

16:33 , Harry Latham-Coyle

You can throw a blanket over the peloton at the moment - it’s all compact annd condensed, those setting the tempo starting to ramp things up. The riders come into a village, the dodging of road furniture causing a split or two and stretching things out a little.

16:30 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Bahrain Victorious are also right at the forefront. Phil Bauhaus was very impressive yesterday, but does have a habit of being better when things are slightly more chaotic on the run in. I’m not sure he quite has the pure power to match some of the top sprinters in the field but if things do get messy around that track entry point, he’s the sort of guy who could capitalise on a reduced group.

16:29 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Team dsm-firmenich are ahead of Astana - they’ll be trying to set things up for Aussie Sam Welsford, 13th yesterday but in good sprinting form this year. He didn’t get much help from John Degenkolb in the Stage Three finale, but you’d have thought the German might be employed today.

16:26 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Mark Cavendish looks calm and content, Astana happy to let others do the controlling as they lurk together further down the field, hugging the right of the road. After such an easy day, this will be fast and furious on reasonably fresh legs.

16:19 , Harry Latham-Coyle

And we’re all back together, Cosnefroy and Delaplace back in the pack and slipping away, their little adventure done.

The peloton’s big boys come to the front - 20km to that vital gate and the finishing circuit and the teams just take the opportunity to slow the pace and settle things down.

🏁25 km There is no more breakaway as we enter the final 25 km of the stage. Il n'y a plus d'échappée alors que l'on entre dans les 25 derniers kms de l'étape. #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/u7hWzsyTqn — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023

16:15 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Neither rider is bothered about that single point - Arkea Samsic’s Anthony Delaplace takes it by default as the front man of the two-man lead group.

He and Benoit Cosnefroy immediately turn back to see how far away the peloton are. 20 seconds is the answer - the pair pull aside one another and prepare to be swept up by the technicolour wave.

16:11 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Neilson Powless is told on the EF Education-EasyPost radio that, unless the peloton naturally brings back the breakaway before the end of the climb, he shouldn’t bother going chasing on his lonesome. With just one point available, that’s entirely understandable - Anthony Delaplace and Benoit Cosnefroy appear set to get their own private duel at the top of the gentle slope on which both they and the peloton are now on.

16:09 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The chopper is up showing an aerial view of the finishing circuit for the first time. That final straight really is a sprint train’s dream, wide, open and even. But that little pinch point with about 3km to go on entry could really pose problems - it’s tight, and the peloton will be very, very tense at the stage.

Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, regular cyclocross rivals, gather for a natter towards the rear of the peloton; Van der Poel was also having a long conversation with his favourite frenemy Wout van Aert earlier. It’s been a good day for catching up but we’re approaching the proper stuff now.

16:05 , Harry Latham-Coyle

A mechanical issue for Luis Leon Sanchez, with the veteran Spaniard picking awkwardly at his chain as he waits for assistance from his team. Sanchez is helped out by a member of Cofidis’ staff with his Astana team car slow to arrive. No panic from Sanchez, who really has seen it all before - he’ll have a role to play helping shepherd Mark Cavendish towards the finish.

16:02 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The breeze has just stiffened a touch - nothing to cause any undue bother, and probably nice and cooling on what sounds like a sticky day for the peloton in the humidity. Tim Declercq still in his familiar place as the peloton’s figurehead, bearing the brunt of that breeze, as the Belgian has done for so many kilometres in his career.

16:00 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Plenty of support for Cosnefroy and Delaplace as they sweep through French farmland. About eight kilometres until they’ll start climbing.

15:50 , Harry Latham-Coyle

It appears the teams are indeed worried about that entry to the track that Lawrence mentioned - Israel Premier Tech have already warned their riders on the team riders that positioning will be key.

Caleb Ewan was another sprinter thrust in front of a microphone this morning after finishing third in Bayonne. “My legs felt good, I felt quite comfortable in those last few kilometres. I can take positives from that. The team did a great job getting me into position. I was happy with how the run-in went.

“It looks technical in the book, but I don’t think it will be as technical as it looks. I got through the first few days with a good feeling so hopefully today will be another good day.”

15:46 , Harry Latham-Coyle

20km or so until the only climbing test, that fourth category Cote de Demu molehill. The peloton have just upped the pace in the last few kilometres, whittling down the lead of Benoit Cosnefroy and Anthony Delaplace to 35 seconds or so, which suggests the Normans may soon be brought back into the bunch

Report from Nogaro

15:41 , Lawrence Ostlere

Good afternoon from Circuit Paul Armagnac, where this stage four will finish in an hour and a half or so. The finishing straight here is wide and long – around 700m – and that is going to set up an exciting drag race for the stage win between the big sprinters. One point of note is the entrance to the track from the outside, which is a narrow funnel that will string out the peloton before they take to the circuit. There will be some jostling for position among the sprint teams here. Most people in the press room are expecting Jasper Philipsen to win again after his triumph yesterday in Bayonne. I thought Caleb Ewan looked good yesterday too so I fancy him, but we’ll see...

15:35 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen, another potential contender later, fancies this racetrack finish to be slightly more difficult than it first appears, telling GCN before the stage: “It’s a pretty tough finish, a lot of corners and you really have to get it right. It’s slightly uphill, a false flat. It’s going to be a tough one.

“There will be a lot of guys for the sprint because it’s quite an easy day. Wide roads or not, it’s going to be hectic.”

The team buses have been out having some fun on the Circuit Paul Armagnac.

Think your bus exceeded track limits @INEOSGrenadiers #TDF2023 @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/1rSGqt5F87 — EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 4, 2023

15:30 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The domestiques are holding the gap steady at the minute mark, with Alpecin-Deceuninck among those doing the work at the front as they try and set up Jasper Philipsen for another dash for victory later. The last pure sprinter with back-to-back Tour stage wins was Dylan Groenewegen in 2018.

15:02 , Harry Latham-Coyle

A minute now for Cosnefroy and Delaplace at the front. Neither team really has anyone who’ll have any shot in a sprint later, hence the freedom they’ve been afforded to get up the road.

💪 We have our first real attack of the day! 🇫🇷 @BenoitCosnefroy attacks, followed by 🇫🇷 @anthodelaplace ! 💪 Nous tenons notre première vraie attaque ! 🇫🇷 @BenoitCosnefroy est parti en compagnie d' 🇫🇷 @anthodelaplace ! #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/aJAWefzX8I — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023

14:59 , Harry Latham-Coyle

It’s a Norman conquest! A pair of riders from northern France clip off the front soon after the sprint, Benoit Cosnefroy turning back to check Arkea Samsic’s Anthony Delaplace is coming with him. The pair’s two hometowns are about 20km apart in Normandy - and why not have a go with a mate on a day like this?

Cosnefroy can be a fun rider to watch - he’s a little bit Alaphilippe-ian at his best, punchy and full of panache. Perhaps he’ll fancy a spot on the podium later with a combativity award.

14:55 , Harry Latham-Coyle

So to confirm that intermediate sprint result:

1. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 20 points

2. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) 17 points

3. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) 15 points

4. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 13 points

5. Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) 11 points

And, in truly spiffing news, we’ve got a breakaway!

14:53 , Harry Latham-Coyle

A slight rise as they go under the one kilometre to go banner, but it’s flat from here. Alpecin still on the front, Biniam Girmay moving up on his lonesome for Intermarche Circus Wanty.

Caleb Ewan will sprint, sitting on Mads Pedersen’s wheel... but Jasper Philipsen takes it on the inside! A late charge from Bryan Coquard but the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider held on, benefitting again from another big turn from Mathieu van der Poel in his leadout train. He’s a useful ally, the Dutchman - 20 intermediate sprint points go Philipsen’s way.

14:50 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The peloton take a big right-hander in the town of Labastide-d’Armagnac, and we’re officially into the second half of today’s stage.

Alpecin-Deceuninck’s leadout train looks well formed at the front, while Bora-Hansgrohe fancy this, too, with Jordi Meeus their sprinter this year.

14:43 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The sprinters’ teams are just starting to take control at the front as we begin the approach to that sprint point. Given the lack of excess energy required to get through the first 90km, you fancy a few fast-men to have a real go at earning some points, testing their legs ahead of the racetrack finish later.

100km to go

14:34 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Fabio Jakobsen is beginning to get his legs warm, moving up to the front of the Soudal-QuickStep line ahead of a potential chase for points at Notre Dame des Cyclistes in 12 kilometres or so.

The chapel really is a fitting place for the intermediate sprint - it, as you can probably gather from the name, includes a cycling museum. Part of its charm is a rather lovely stained glass window, designed by Henry Anglade, a Tour de France stage winner in 1959.

14:20 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The peloton’s average speed today is about five kilometres per hour slower than the race’s most conservative pre-stage estimate - this really is a proper pootle to Nogaro.

🚴‍♂️The average speed so far is 38 km/h after the first 2 hours 🚴‍♂️La vitesse moyenne est de 38 km/h après les deux premières heures. #TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/K9KjSin8Qh — Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 4, 2023

109km to go

14:18 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The lack of a breakaway does mean that there’s a full 20 points on offer to the first man across the line at the intermediate sprint. Mads Pedersen has been very active at those mid-stage sprint points so far in the race - if Wout van Aert doesn’t fancy another tilt at the green jersey, Pedersen probably has the right blend of sprinting speed, climbing legs and hardiness to take the points competition.

112km to go

14:12 , Harry Latham-Coyle

We’ll see what happens as we get nearer to the intermediate sprint, about 25km away, and then the sole categorised climb later in the stage, but if things continue in this manner, finding a suitable candidate for most combative rider might be difficult.

117km to go

14:05 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Those caught napping as that little acceleration threatened to cause a split are working their way back in through the back of the peloton. That attack would have jolted a few out of their slumber.

119km to go

14:01 , Harry Latham-Coyle

That really was out of nowhere. The peloton is all strung out in a line, with the cross tailwind probably not quite strong enough to threaten echelons but keeping everyone on guard, regardless. Simon Yates has to show his face towards the front, the maillot jaune making sure he’s well positioned just in case it does fracture further.

Van Aert eventually relents, and the sprinters’ teams fan out across the front to settle things back down again. But that was all rather jaunty - and rather needed.

120km to go

13:59 , Harry Latham-Coyle

More than 60km covered today now.

Hang on! Wout van Aert fancies some fun! He’s putting the pace on at the front in a power-packed group at the front. It’s the Belgians again... and there’s a split!

Tour de France 2023 stage-by-stage guide

13:56 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Stage-by-stage guide to the 2023 Tour de France route

127km to go

13:54 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Right, back to full focus on the Tour de France, where the peloton are weaving through the villages to the south of Mont-de-Marsan. This is proper French rugby territory, this - today’s route takes in the town of Condom, where talismanic number eight Gregory Alldritt grew up. The riders have just ridden past the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Rugby, which includes a monument of rugby memorabilia, alongside more traditional religious iconography.

130km to go

13:44 , Harry Latham-Coyle

She’s done it! Antonia Niedermaier just about manages to hold off Annemiek van Vleuten, taking Stage Five of the Giro Donne and the biggest win of her young career by a handful of seconds.

Van Vleuten’s second place will extend her advantage in the general classification.

🥇What a ride from 🇩🇪 Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon//SRAM Racing). Winning in Ceres! #UCIWWT #GiroDonne23 📸 @gettysport pic.twitter.com/Hz2wk00LKx — UCI_WWT (@UCI_WWT) July 4, 2023

136km to go

13:35 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Drama in Italy - both Van Vleuten and Longo Borghini have hit the deck! The Dutch race leader is soon back on her bike, but the Italian went flying into a mound at the side of a bend and stays down a little longer.

Thankfully, she’s able to get back in the saddle, but that was pretty scary for the Lidl-Trek rider. That might just seal it for Antonia Niedermaier - what a win that would be for the budding Canyon/SRAM star.

No change on the situation at the Tour. The peloton remains together nearly 50km into a soporific stage.

143km to go

13:26 , Harry Latham-Coyle

In Italy, talented young German Antonia Nidermaier has launched a late flyer on Stage Five of the Giro Donne. She’s inside the final ten kilometres but has an advantage of about 30 seconds - but it’s pretty scary double act of Elisa Longo Borghini and Annemiek van Vleuten hot in pursuit.

The Dutchwoman, seeking to extend her overall lead over Longo Borghini, has just attacked.

146km to go

13:19 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Soudal-QuickStep are at the front of the peloton, Tim Declercq, nicknamed “The Tractor”, right at home tugging the bunch along past the hay bales. Onwards we go.

151km to go

13:12 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Philippe Gilbert is out on the motorbike today with the peloton, adjusting to life after retirement. The brilliant Belgian classicist is recalling when he and a group of compatriots embarked on a uninational attack a couple of years ago at Paris-Nice, a move masterminded by Oliver Naesen that ended up enlivening a similarly sleepy stage.

Could the six Americans in the race try something similar this afternoon on Independence Day? The USA’s Neilson Powless is certainly enjoying his Tour so far, describing wearing the polka dots as a “childhood dream”.

“The Tour de France is the biggest bike race in the world and I grew up watching it, with the polka dot jersey always riding at the front of the race,” EF Education-EasyPost’s Powless said after consolidating his competition lead yesterday. “Now I get to wear that jersey. I’ve fulfilled a childhood dream. We knew it was a possibility, yet not an easy one as we needed many things to come together.

The [Pyrenees] is a really big goal for the polka dot jersey but also for the stage win for the team as well. Luckily I’ve had teammate that have been resting up quite well and they are also looking forward to the Pyrenees,” Powless said.

“If I miss one break in the mountains it will be gone, and we are still a long way from reaching Paris. It’s very nice to be in the lead. I’m already in love with this polka-dot jersey. I fell immediately in love with it, indeed. Let’s see how long I can wear it.”

Another stellar day for Neilson in the dots. 🔴⚪️ He leads the KOM classification with 18 points after 3 stages. We finally arrive onto French soil after finishing the stage in Bayonne and looking forward to seeing those French fans bring the energy 📣💥 pic.twitter.com/C6q5K1mfhp — EF Pro Cycling (@EFprocycling) July 3, 2023

157km to go

13:04 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The peloton are already seven minutes behind the slowest schedule issued by the organisers, to illustrate how unhurried proceedings have been so far. Why not fill the time by listening to the dulcet tones of The Independent’s Lawrence Ostlere ? Our man in France, currently making his own sedate way to today’s finish town of Nogaro, took on some readers’ questions before the Tour got started.

163km to go

12:52 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Over at the Giro Donne in Italy, things are rather more exciting - there’s 25km or so to go in another significant day of climbing for the women’s peloton, with race leader Annemiek van Vleuten attacking from a nine-strong front group. Van Vleuten hasn’t managed to get away but there’s still another third category climb to come before a final ramp to the finish. We’ll keep an eye on that one.

In France, Luca Mozzato of Arkea-Samsic, who might have been the only team tempted to have a go on their lonesome today, drops back to the medical car for a bit of strapping.

167km to go

12:46 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Hurrah! An attack! Michael Gogl of Alpecin-Deceuninck puts the power on and finds a follower in the form of Lidl-Trek’s Jasper Stuyven, two teams with amibitions to take the stage perhaps hoping to spark the stage into life.

It doesn’t work. All back in one bunch with few signs of follow-up offensives.

171km to go

12:40 , Harry Latham-Coyle

“Well, we’re going to go east for a long time,” is the great Sean Kelly’s quip on commentary when asked where he thinks today’s stage might be going. A few riders are already nipping off to answer to nature’s call, with no action imminent.

Peter Sagan is having a catch-up with a few old Bora-Hansgrohe friends, while Mark Cavenish and Julian Alaphilippe share an embrace, rainbow bands on their arms denoting their status as former world champions, recalling their times together at Soudal-QuickStep. Easy going.

Jumbo’s Death Star, Pidcock’s dog and Basque pride: Inside the Tour de France’s Grand Depart

12:36 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Jumbo’s Death Star and Pidcock’s dog: Inside the Tour de France’s Grand Depart

176km to go

12:31 , Harry Latham-Coyle

You can completely understand the riders’ reticence to get up the road. The sole categorised climb on the docket today offers only a single point and is late in the stage, and there would appear almost zero chance of a breakaway getting any sort of race-winning rope with the sprinters’ teams likely to be in full control.

And so we wait. Bora-Hansgrohe Emmanuel Buchmann has a banana in his back pocket, ready to refuel a bit later. Simon Yates is having a chat with UAE Team Emirates colleague Matteo Trentin; Mathieu van der Poel has a relaxed chuckle behind them.

179km to go

12:26 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Racing in name only so far. The scenery won’t be quite as spectacular as yesterday’s romp up the coast to Bayonne, but there are a few attractive chateaux on the way to Nogaro, which the peloton might just have time to appreciate if this gentle pace continues.

181km to go

12:22 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Christian Prudhomme waves the flag and we are off and running on Stage Four of the 2023 Tour de France.

And...nobody’s moving. Not even a hint of an attack in the first kilometre of racing. It might be one of those days.

Tour de France - Stage Four

12:21 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Calm and cool as the riders approach the race start proper. Who fancies an early excursion and first crack at forming a breakaway?

12:15 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The peloton have begun the neutralised roll-out from Dax. It’s been a reasonably smooth start incident-wise - neither Enric Mas nor Richard Carapaz were able to start Stage Two after a crash on the opening day as both Movistar and EF Education-EasyPost lost GC men, but there are again 174 riders on the start line today.

12:11 , Harry Latham-Coyle

It is, of course, the fourth of July, which might excite Powless and the other five American riders in the field. I wouldn’t expect any of them to figure particularly prominent come the pointy end of the race, with none of the competing US sextet particularly noted fast finishers, but Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) is wearing the stars and stripes and has surprised the peloton on a motor-racing tack already this year. ..

Here’s a reminder of the full list of jersey wearers today. Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic) has the coloured numbers after winning Stage Four’s combativity prize.

Yellow: Simon Yates (UAE Team Emirates)

White: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)

Green: Victor Lafay (Cofidis)

Polka Dot: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)

12:00 , Harry Latham-Coyle

There’s just the one King of the Mountains point of offer today, so I don’t expect Neilson Powless to repeat his move from yesterday and get up the road in hopes of increasing his lead in the chase for the polka dot jersey. It’s safe on his shoulders for another couple of days at least.

It feels like a classic day for some of the smaller French teams to fill the breakaway, but there are slightly fewer candidates for that sort of exposure-driven exercise in futility than usual this year. Both UCI ProTour entrants (TotalEnergies and Lotto-Dstny) are here with hopes of semi-regular stage contention, the latter outfit particularly, while Uno-X and Israel-Premier Tech both arrive with strong units hoping to make the most of their wildcards.

Mark Cavendish speaks to Eurosport/GCN ahead of the Stage Four start

11:49 , Harry Latham-Coyle

“Yeah, it was good,” the Astana sprinter reflects on yesterday. “Of course we want to win - sixth is sixth, but I was happy with my legs, how the boys were. There are a lot more opportunities and we are going to be positive moving forward from that. I’m really happy, actually.

“We’ll try again today. The final straight is better for me, you can feel the pedals underneath you.

“This stuff I can kind of enjoy. Once I’m on the bike, I’m on the bike doing the job. It doesn’t feel like there is a pressure, which takes a weight off my shoulders. I’ll go and do my best and see what happens.”

11:37 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Slightly peculiarly, the Tour de France won’t see another coastline for the remainder of this year’s race - we’re now inland all the way to Paris. Here’s our handy guide to every stage on the 2023 route, with all sorts of climbing tests to come as the peloton take on the Pyrenees, the Massif Central and the Alps.

11:28 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Rider safety will continue to be in the spotlight throughout this Tour, particularly after the tragic loss of Gino Mader at the Tour de Suisse last month . Mader really is much missed - beyond his considerable talents on a bike, the Swiss rider did plenty of work for charity, with particular emphasis on the environment.

Bahrain-Victorious teammate Pello Bilbao has copied Mader’s pledge from the 2021 Vuelta a Espana, donating money for each rider he beats on each and all of the 21 Tour stages to a Basque charity that replants on deforested land.

Fabio Jakobsen hits out at Stage Three finish

11:21 , Harry Latham-Coyle

There’s been a fair bit of overnight criticism for the finish in Bayonne yesterday, with that bend inside the final few hundred metres nearly causing an incident as Wout van Aert launched his sprint to Jasper Philipsen’s inside. A jutting barrier didn’t particularly help matters, either.

Among those to question the safety of the run-in is Fabio Jakobsen, who came home fourth. Jakobsen was fortunate to survive a truly horrifying crash at the Tour de Pologne in 2020 and wonders if enough progress is being made to keep sprinters safe.

“I think we (the riders) and the Tour organisers need to look at the parcours and a finish like this,” the Soudal-QuickStep rider said to CyclingNews. “We all saw in the past what that can do, when a rider goes from one side to the other. If you create a chicane, riders want to go the shortest way, from left to right. For sure it’s not the nicest finish of the Tour.

“We can have long kilometres for finishes, just don’t use a downhill, don’t use a left, right in the last five hundred metres.”

10:55 , Harry Latham-Coyle

Philipsen’s new, largely unwarranted nickname wasn’t the only odd bit of Netflix’s Tour de France: Unchained series, which while entertaining enough, didn’t quite manage to hit the mark, as Lawrence Ostlere explains.

When cycling meets ‘war games’ – new Netflix docuseries revitalises well-worn format

10:48 , Harry Latham-Coyle

We’ve still a little while before the action gets going today - I’d expect things to again be quite gentle, though there may be more of a fight to get in the breakaway after that small two-man group got away comfortably yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, that was Jasper Philipsen’s second consecutive win in a Tour bunch sprint, the Belgian following up his Champs Elysees triumph from last year. That Alpecin-Deceuninck lead-out train looked in good working order, with Mathieu van der Poel a vital carriage but Soren Kragh Andersen and Ramon Sinkeldam doing some handy freight carrying too. So much for “Jasper the Disaster”...

Jasper ‘disaster’ Philipsen rebuts Netflix nickname with stage three win

10:39 , Harry Latham-Coyle

It’s been a fun opening three days of this year’s Tour, with the Basque Country fans adding plenty of colour, turning out in force as the race weaved up from Bilbao to Bayonne. The one blight, unfortunately, has been the tossing of tacks, with all-too-regular punctures a feature of each of the last two stages.

‘You morons!’ Tour de France riders furious as tacks on road cause chaos

10:34 , Harry Latham-Coyle

After yesterday’s twists and turns towards the sprint finish, the peloton’s fastest riders will hope for a much smoother run-in today at the Circuit Paul Armagnac. The open asphalt might just suit Mark Cavendish, with the Astana rider encouraged by a sixth-placed finish yesterday and continuing his search for that record-breaking 35th stage win.

Lawrence Ostlere spoke to some of Cavendish’s fiercest foes and closest allies to find out what makes the Manx Missile a Tour de France legend.

How Mark Cavendish became a Tour de France legend – according to rivals and teammates

Tour de France - Stage Four Route Map and Profile

10:10 , Harry Latham-Coyle

The sprinters will get another chance to go for glory at the 2023 Tour de France as Tuesday’s stage four offers a flat route and fast finish.

The 182km route begins in Dax, a small town in south-west France, before heading east across Landes to the region of Gers. There is an intermediate sprint in the middle of the stage for those hunting green jersey points, although it is unclear whether anyone in the peloton is dedicated to winning the points classification – the green jersey may well end up on the shoulders of whichever top sprinter makes it to Paris by default rather than design.

There is one categorised climb near the finish, the Cote de Demu (2km at 3.5%) and the latter half of the stage is a little lumpy, but not enought to deter any sprinters from reach the finish.

Stage 4 preview: Route map and profile of 182km from Dax to Nogaro

Tour de France 2023 – stage four

09:35 , Lawrence Ostlere

Follow all the build-up and latest updates from stage four of the Tour de France.

Tour de France Stage 4 Preview: The Peloton Heads to France

After the travel and rest day, the Tour is back in France for Stage 4.

Stage 4 - Dunkirk to Calais - 171.5km - Tuesday, July 5

After taking a day off to travel from Denmark to France, the 2022 Tour de France reconvenes on home soil for a 171.5km stage from Dunkirk to Calais that could be a tricky one if teams are too busy anticipating Stage 5’s cobblestones or Stage 7’s summit finish on the Super Planche des Belles Filles.

The stage starts and finishes at sea level, but in between heads down along the Belgian border toward the hills of West Flanders and then west into the Boulonnais hills, home to a natural park that’s a world class site for bird-watching. The stage offers six Category 4 climbs, which means Denmark’s Magnus Cort-Nielsen (EF Education First-EasyPost) could lose the polka dot jersey if another rider wins all six of them, but that’s unlikely as the Dane or one of his teammates will likely go on the attack to defend it.

This is the first stage that we could see go to a breakaway. Despite this being the last chance for a field sprint before the second week, the sprinters’ teams might have a hard time controlling things on these hilly, winding roads, and with such a hard series of stages throughout the rest of the week, the peloton might be content to let a group of puncheurs escape to settle things among themselves.

The final climb (the Category 4 Côte du Cap Blanc-Nez) comes just 10.8km from the finish line in Calais, a crucial moment when it comes to winning the stage. If a breakaway is still out front, it’s the perfect place to launch a stage-winning move. If the break’s been caught, it’s a chance to drop some sprinters before the finish.

The finish is flat and fairly straightforward, with a hard right turn through a roundabout at 1,500 meters to-go and then another left-hander 500 meters from the line. Riders who aren’t in the top-20 through this last corner can kiss their chances of winning the stage goodbye. Luckily, the weather shouldn’t pose any issues, with cool temperatures, sunny skies, and light wind in the forecast.

Riders to Watch

Despite going on the attack during Stages 2 and 3, don’t be surprised to see Cort-Nielsen contend for the stage win. While he’s done his best to defend his lead as the Tour’s King of the Mountains, he’s known more for being a breakaway specialist–and this is the perfect stage for him. Other riders to watch from a breakaway include Latvia’s Toms Skujins and the USA’s Quinn Simmons (both from Trek-Segafredo), Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal), and Australia’s Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech).

In the event of a field sprint, the Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), and Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) are the favorites–if they can make it over the final climb with the main peloton. If they’re dropped, Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) will have a perfect chance to win a stage while wearing the yellow jersey.

Since getting hooked on pro cycling while watching Lance Armstrong win the 1993 U.S. Pro Championship in Philadelphia, longtime Bicycling contributor Whit Yost has raced on Belgian cobbles, helped build a European pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux as an assistant director sportif. These days, he lives with his wife and son in Pennsylvania, spending his days serving as an assistant middle school principal and his nights playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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Tour de France: Jasper Philipsen wins two in a row in crash-marred stage 4

Caleb Ewan second, Phil Bauhaus third in Nogaro

How it unfolded

Stage 4 of the 2023 Tour de France saw Belgian fastman Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claim a second victory in two days in a crash-filled bunch sprint finale.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Dstny) finished a narrowly defeated second on the flat stage from Dax to Nogaro, with Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) in third.

Sprinter Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) was amongst the late fallers on the motor speedway circuit that hosted the finish.

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) retained the overall lead for a fourth straight day.

After two bunch sprints, the race heads into the mountains, with a tough day starting in Pau and finishing in Laruns after the hors categorie Col de Soudet and category 1 Col de Marie-Blanque.

Having had to wait several minutes for his victory to be confirmed on Monday because of possibly moving his sprint line in the finale, this time despite only finishing half a wheel ahead of Ewan, Philipsen’s second triumph in 24 hours was a clear one.

“It was close in the end, so I was happy they confirmed quickly,” Philipsen said afterwards.

“It was a really easy stage, I think everybody wanted to save legs for the Pyrenees tomorrow and the day after. But in the final kilometres entering the circuit in the final, I heard some crashes around me, so I hope everybody is ok and safe.

“It was a bit of a hectic final with the turns in the end. I lost my team as well, but in the final straight I found [teammate] Mathieu van der Poel again and he did an amazing pull to get me to victory. But my legs were cramping and Caleb was coming close.”

A very slow start saw virtually no attacks in the first two hours, with a brief move by Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) and an even briefer dig by Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) the only race action of note. Soudal-QuickStep kept a nominal control at the front of the bunch and there was precious little else to report as the pace continued at a sluggish 37 km/h average for kilometre after kilometre across the flatlands of southern France.

Things finally burst into some sort of life in the intermediate sprint at Notre Dame des Cyclistes when Philipsen outsprinted Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Ewan to move provisionally into green - a lead he would then amply confirm with the stage victory.

A move then went clear, containing Ag2R-Citröen all-rounder Benoit Cosnefroy and Arkea-Samsic’s Anthony Delaplace. The two Frenchmen continued their attempt as the road began to undulate more notably prior to the one classified ascent of the day, the category 4 Côte de Dému. But having lost half their lead on that one short climb, their effort petered out shortly afterwards.

The bunch massed across the broad, two-lane road in various tightly grouped formations as the speed increased notably to over 60 km/h in the last 10 kilometres, from DSM-Firmenich staying ahead on the far right through to Bora-Hansgrohe and Lotto-Dstny in the middle to Alpecin-Deceuninck on the far left. Riders began to slide out of the back of the bunch, as Luis Léon Sanchez brought Cavendish to the front and the fight to stay up intensified even further and teams split apart on a series of fast corners.

Jumbo-Visma then brought Jonas Vingegaard up for the narrow entrance and turn into the gates and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) led the lined-out bunch onto the finishing circuit. But as Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) put it, afterwards the stage descended into “carnage,” with the corners and multiple crashes, most just involving two or three riders, making it hard for any clear pattern to emerge and seeing the bunch strung out into several large groups.

Amongst those fallen were Luis León Sánchez, later reported to have a broken collarbone, with Lotto-Dstny’s Jacopo Guarnieri also said to be badly injured, while Jakobsen, although bloodied and scraped up, could complete the course.

In the closing kilometre of the tumultuous bunch sprint finale, Van der Poel’s lead out in the very finishing straight pulled Philipsen clear just as Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) - fortunately not badly injured - tangled with an Uno-X rider and hit the right-hand barrier in the middle of the speeding peloton.

Philipsen was just able to stay ahead of Ewan despite his cramps, both doubling his stage tally for 2023 and putting his hat in the ring for the green jersey with a considerable points advantage.

Meanwhile, his rivals and teams assessed the damage on a very difficult finish to what had been - until the last kilometres - by far the most straightforward day of the Tour to date.

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent , The Guardian , ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 4: Remco Evenepoel Wallops GC Rivals with Huge Time Trial Victory

'to be on this form already is a good sign for the tour:' evenepoel puts time into all his rivals in itt, roglič moves to second overall, 33 seconds back..

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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) showed he’s well on track for the Tour de France with a monster time trial victory on stage 4 of the Critérium du Dauphiné .

The world time trial champion put chunks of time into his classification rivals and took the yellow jersey Wednesday in what was his first ITT since he was hospitalized in the horror crash that decimated Itzulia Basque Country this April.

Twenty-year-old sensation Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) finished a close second in Wednesday’s tough, hilly 34km test into Neulise.

Evenepoel’s GC rival Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) squeezed U.S. ace Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) out of the podium places for third. The Slovenian classification veteran was 39 seconds slower than Evenepoel’s enormous 49.3kph ride.

“I’m very proud and happy. The team around me, my family, the staff members, they can really be proud of all their work and the support they gave me,” Evenepoel said after the stage.

Evenepoel broke his collarbone and shoulder blade in April’s crash and has been in a race against time to find his pre-Tour de France form.

“It’s been a long way, three weeks of no bike then only four weeks of training. To be on this form already is a good sign for the Tour,” Evenepoel said of his hotly anticipated “I can only be happy and proud, now we focus day-by-day on the rest of the race.”

Overnight race leader Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech) dug deep to defend his maillot jaune but there was no way the Canadian was going to hang with Evenepoel and Tarling. Still, Gee blazed to sixth on the stage to remain in classification contention.

Jorgenson in GC contention with two of the Tour de France ‘Big-4’

The results mean the classification takes a big reshuffle Wednesday. Evenepoel now leads the Dauphiné into the hill-packed final phase of the race, with Roglič next best, 33 seconds back.

Visma-Lease a Bike’s leadership tandem lost a wheel in the Dauhpiné’s arduous TT.

While Jorgenson finished fourth on the stage to be “best of the rest” of the GC contenders to set him square in third overall, his teammate and Vuelta a España champion Sepp Kuss hemorrhaged time.

Kuss will no doubt revert to superdomestique for Jorgenson in the mountains to come at the end of this Critérium du Dauphiné.

“I suffered a lot. I gave it my best effort,” Jorgenson said at the line. “I wasn’t really checking power, I was going by feel. It was really long so there was a lot of suffering, but I think I did a good ride.

“I’m feeling pretty good, I had a good camp and a good preparation. I think the weekend will be tough for me, these big shoulders suffer in the mountains,” Jorgenson joked. “But I’ll give it my best.”

The rest of the pre-race contenders including Tour de France trio Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), and Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates) finished in a tight-knit ball, around two minutes back on Evenepoel.

Evenepoel’s huge performance Wednesday makes for a warning shot across the rest of the Tour de France “Big 4” of Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard, and Tadej Pogačar. It looks like he could stand to make big gains in the 60km of individual time trialing that awaits at the Tour this summer.

Belgium’s “aero bullet” hailed the new set-up he used in Wednesday’s crucial tester of Tour de France TT tech.

“It was a very nice present from Specialized, this new bike and helmet,” Evenepoel said. “It gave me some extra push, extra power. We tried to optimize all the material including the skinsuit to try to win the TTs on this very high level. We’re on a good way, but still a long way to go.”

Up next: A sprint stage ‘calm’ before a Dauphiné climbing storm

The Remco fan club is out in force at the Critérium du Dauphiné

Evenepoel, Roglič, and Jorgenson will cool their jets Thursday for a stage that’s near nailed-on for a fast finish.

After that, three mountaintop finishes await in a merciless procession of Alpine stages that could totally reconfigure the final classification.

If Wednesday’s time trial was a tester for the Tour de France, the vert-packed stages 6, 7, and 8 will make for a full exam.

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The Favourites Prep for the Tour de France

Who's doing what.

The Top Riders Prepare: There are four weeks to go before the start of the behemoth that is the biggest bike race on the calendar: the Tour de France. The top favourites are now either on an altitude training camp or racing in the Criterium du Dauphiné. We look at the plans of the top riders with 24 days to go.

Remco Evenepoel The last weeks to the Tour start for Remco Evenepoel includes the Critérium du Dauphiné where he is on stage 4 today (Wednesday). The Soudal-Quick-Step leader says he still has some work to do and is taking the French race ‘day-by-day’. He is returns to competition after his crash in the Itzulia Basque Country, where he suffered several fractures. “This is more of a race to gain some race rhythm,” the World time trial champion said cautiously. He said he isn’t interested in the overall. The Belgian spent three weeks on an altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada in May. He went to the Spanish mountains with his climbing right-hand man, Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder. All three are riding the Critérium du Dauphiné and then will go on another camp at altitude. After that, he may miss out the Belgian time trial championship, but will defend his road title. That will be his the last race before the Tour.

Schedule: Criterium du Dauphiné Altitude training camp Belgian road championship Tour de France.

Tadej Pogačar For Tadej Pogačar, the preparation for La Grande Boucle has only just started. The 25-year-old Slovenian has had a week off after dominating the Giro d’Italia and is taking a different route to this year’s French Grand Tour. We will soon find out if this plan suits him. During the Giro, the UAE Team Emirates Tour squad were on an altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada. They then split between the Critérium du Dauphiné with Juan Ayuso and the Tour of Switzerland with João Almeida. Adam Yates, 3rd in last year’s Tour, was also on the training camp, but his calendar empty in June. Pogačar will be at altitude in Isola 2000 for three weeks. He will follow the Mathieu van der Poel route to the Tour: Only training at altitude and then go straight to the Tour.

Giro winner, Tadej Pogačar, has been in Isola 2000 for an altitude training camp since Tuesday. Before traveling to the ski resort in the French Alps, he was a guest on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club Podcast , hosted by Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe. Pogačar will will be backed up by Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida, Marc Soler, Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens and Nils Politt in the Tour. “Yates is my right hand, Ayuso and Almeida will be like super domestiques in the mountains,” said Pogačar. “Soler and Sivakov are the big men for the mountains, who can also do something on the flat. And then you have Wellens and Politt. It also scares me a bit!”

Pogačar lost to Jonas Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023, but the Dane is still a doubt for the Tour de France after his crash in the Itzulia Basque Country, but he is preparing for the Tour. Will he be ready on time? “I think so,” said Pogačar. “He was able to ride again quite quickly after leaving the hospital. If he is comfortable on the bike again, I think he can start in good shape. He has to reach his race weight, but I don’t think that is a problem.” Pogacar also has Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglič to watch in the Tour. “Evenepoel will fly. He will also be very motivated, just like Roglič. It looks like they will be more than 100% ready for the start of the Tour this year.”

The Tour starts in Italy this year, with a difficult opening stage to Rimini. Will Pogačar go from the gun? “It’s a tough start, but I haven’t really thought about it yet. We were very aggressive in Bilbao last year, but we may have had a bit of a boomerang in return. The shape wasn’t great then either. We have to think again about what we are going to do. The first day is 210 kilometres with four consecutive climbs, and on day two we have San Luca from the Giro dell’Emilia. After that, the Galibier is in stage four. That’s a nice stage. Do I want to take revenge there for the 2022 Tour? That would be nice, but the finish line is below. The end of the Tour is also very tough. It’s brutal.”

“Evenepoel will mainly have to make his move in the beginning,” Pogačar thinks. “But Roglič will first just look at it and then fly in the last days. It’s nice to finally see Remco in the Tour. When he became World champion, I thought: ‘fuck, you have to do the Tour’. But he didn’t do it.”

Schedule: Altitude training camp in Isola 2000 Tour de France.

Primož Roglič Since that crash in the Itzulia Basque Country at the beginning of April, we have not seen anything of Primož Roglič. The 34-year-old Slovenian wasn’t as injured as the other Tour top favourites and we must assume that he is on schedule for the Tour de France. He was also training in the Sierra Nevada last month. In Spain, Roglič rode to the top of Pico Veleta, the highest paved road in Europe. We should see how his form is in the Critérium du Dauphiné. So far it’s looking good, he took second place on stage 2 behind Magnus Cort. “Everyone is so fit here and there was only one who got to the line faster,” he is more than satisfied with his own level of form. “I am still a bit disappointed that I couldn’t finish it.” (Red Bull) BORA-hansgrohe will have Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov in the Tour line up, but Vlasov was disappointment after the team announced Roglič’s sole leadership in the Tour. After the Dauphiné, the Slovenian will be at altitude in Tignes.

Schedule: Criterium du Dauphiné High altitude Tignes Tour de France.

Jonas Vingegaard From Sunday, part of the intended Visma | Lease a Bike Tour team will be in Tignes for a three-week training camp. Jonas Vingegaard arrived a few days earlier to get his body used to the altitude. In the Itzulia Basque Country crash, the double Tour winner broke several ribs, his collarbone, suffered a perforated lung and was kept in hospital for a long time. So we have to wonder if Vingegaard has enough time to recover and get into Tour shape. Part of his Visma | Lease a Bike Tour squad are racing in the Critérium du Dauphiné, including possible team leader, Sepp Kuss, as are Dylan van Baarle, Tiesj Benoot, Matteo Jorgenson and Steven Kruijswijk. After the French stage race, they will also go to Tignes and then we should know whether Vingegaard will make it to the Tour or not. Wout van Aert is also in Tignes working on his Tour preparation.

Schedule: Altitude training camp in Tignes Tour de France.

Carlos Rodriguez Part of INEOS Grenadiers Tour team was on the volcano of El Teide in May, including Carlos Rodríguez. Last year the young Spaniard showed his climber’s legs in the final week, behind Pogačar and Vingegaard. This year he will be aiming at a better final overall than his fifth place. His 2024 has been going well as he won the Tour de Romandie and was second in the Itzulia Basque Country. The Spaniard was on Mount Teide for three weeks and is now racing against Evenepoel and Roglič in the Critérium du Dauphiné. This year’s Tour could be Rodríguez’s big chance to be a team leader, of course this depends on Geraint Thomas who is supposed not to be at the start of the Tour due to riding the Giro d’Italia and that Egan Bernal is training in Colombia. After the Dauphiné, Rodríguez will be at altitude again, but where that will be is not public knowledge as yet

Schedule: Critérium du Dauphiné Altitude training camp Tour de France.

Tom Pidcock Tom Pidcock is also a leader of the INEOS Grenadiers team in the Tour. The mountain bike World champion won the MTB World Cup in Nové Mesto for the fourth time in a row last week. The next day he drove from the airport in Barcelona back home to Andorra. It is not clear whether he will complete his Tour training there or will go to an altitude training camp with the team. Thymen Arensman is training in France, he called his training ride on Strava ‘Clermond-Ferrand tourist’ .

Pidcock will ride the Mountain Bike World Cup in Crans Montana on June 23, six days before the start of the Tour de France, he told CyclingWeekly . After ending his spring Classics at the end of April with a tenth place in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he was at the start of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Nové Město in May. Next Sunday he will be at the start of the Tour de Suisse (9-16 June) and on June 23rd, he will be on the mountain bike again in Crans Montana. A week later, Pidcock will start the Tour de France (June 29-July 21), where he says he is aiming at the GC. Then he moves on the Olympic mountain bike race in Paris (July 29), where he will defend the title he won in Tokyo. Five days after the mountain bike race, Pidcock will ride the Olympic road race (August 3).

“I don’t train as much on my mountain bike as I should, but it’s easy to alternate between road bike and mountain bike,” Pidcock said to CyclingWeekly . “Of course in this part of the year, in preparation for the Tour, I do longer intervals and more volume. But they complement each other.”

Schedule: Training at home in Andorra Tour of Switzerland (Possibly) Training at home in Andorra Tour de France.

David Gaudu “I dream of the podium,” David Gaudu told l’Equipe . The Groupama-FDJ climber is the French hope for the home Tour. Two years ago he finished fourth overall and last year he was ninth in the Tour. Also in the 2023 Paris-Nice he was second behind Pogačar, but ahead of Vingegaard. In May, Gaudu was training on Teide in Tenerife. At the moment he is racing in the Dauphiné, he will then ride in the French road championships.

Schedule: Critérium du Dauphiné French road championship Tour de France.

# Stay PEZ for all the 2024 Tour de France news and daily stage reports. #

*Thanks to WielerFlits and ProCyclingStats for the facts.

Alastair Hamilton has been a pro team mechanic on the road, track and mountain bike and worked for the Great Britain team at the World championships in all disciplines. Since moving to Spain and finding out how to use a computer, he has gone from contributor of Daily Distractions at the 2002 Vuelta a España to editor at PezCyclingNews.

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The 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Adds New Stage and Grand Depart Location

F or the first three years of its short history, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift has been eight stages long. In 2025, it’s set to add a new stage, as well as a new location for the Grand Depart. Originally set to start in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the riders will now start in the Brittany region in Vannes, France.

The Brittany region encompasses the northwesternmost peninsula located directly west of Paris. In cycling, it’s best known for Brest, a town that’s hosted the Tour de France Grand Depart four times, most recently in 2021.

“The Tour de France Femmes with Zwift helps to create vocations for little girls and boys… I’m proud of it because Brittany is a region that I love, a magnificent region,” says Marion Rousse, director of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. “It’s going to be a great party, and I’m already looking forward to 2025.”

The news from Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) dropped this morning and included a peek at the first three stages of racing, all in the Brittany region:

July 26: Vannes to Plumelec, with the finish at the top of Côte de Cadoudal
July 27: Brest to Quimper with a final loop in the town
July 28: Start in La Gacilly (Morbihan), finish TBD

“This Grand Départ in Brittany is historic, with a departure from Vannes for a stage that is 100 percent in Morbihan [one of the regions of Brittany],” explains Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France. “The finish will be in Plumelec, which hosted the European Championships in 2016 and where there will be plenty of people lining the roads right up to the start of the circuit. The second stage will start from Brest, the city that has hosted the most Grand Départs of the Tour de France after Paris, four times in total. The Menez Quelerc’h climb will be one of the day’s major difficulties. The first two stages are designed for the hard hitters, with some fine difficulties. The third stage will start in La Gacilly, home of Yves Rocher, which has already hosted the Tour de l’Avenir and the Tour de Bretagne, and then we’ll leave Brittany.”

“We’re delighted to be teaming up to host this Grand Départ,” says Loïg Chesnais-Girard, Chairman of the Brittany Region. “It’s something that’s very important to us because Brittany is a land of cycling, a land of value, and a land of volunteers. We’re giving this gift to all those who love cycling… Once again, we’re going to be able to show women’s sport in all its glory.”

Of course, fans of women’s cycling are likely more excited by the news that after three years of holding the eight-day race, the TdFF will see nine days of racing. This is a small gain, but it is progress—and a good sign that the race is thriving and will continue for years to come. At a time when the cycling industry is going through such economic turmoil , it’s great to see that women’s racing continues to make strides rather than stepping backward.

It will be interesting to see how cycling fans split their streaming time: The first two stages of the 2025 TDFF will take place as the final two stages of the men’s race conclude.

The 2025 edition will expand from eight to nine stages, starting in Brittany's Vannes, highlighting the region’s rich cycling heritage and the growing significance of women’s cycling.

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Tour de France Mountain Categories & Classifications Explained
How Are Tour de France Climbs Classified? Each of the mountain categories get increasingly more difficult from 4 to HC. The peeps in charge determine classifications based on gradient, distance, and max elevation: by Mikel Ortega. Category 4: The easiest climbs. Like pretty much a descent for the peloton.
Category Climbs In Cycling: What Are The 5 Tour de France ...
At an 8.5% average, traversing 21 hairpin bends and over 1120 metres (3700 ft) of elevation gain, the infamous Alpe d'Huez ascent is a prime example of an Hors Catégorie climb. More often than not, Grand Tours are won and lost on Category 1 and Hors Catégorie (HC) climbs. Demi Vollering climbs the Tourmalet at the 2023 Tour de France Femmes.
Hors catégorie
The average HC climb in the Tour de France from 2012 to 2016 is 16.1 kilometers long and has a grade of 7.4%. There are around 7 HC climbs per Tour. ... Instead of adding a fifth category, the Tour organisation decided to add a hors catégorie. Tour de France. The following climbs used in the Tour de France have been ranked "Hors catégorie" at ...
Climb categorization explained
In 1933, the Tour de France introduced the mountain classification. Riders received points when they were first to reach the summit, but at that time, there was only one category. Over the years, additional categories have been introduced, ranging from the most challenging Hors Catégorie ('beyond categorization') down to the 4th category. ...
Mountains classification in the Tour de France
The first Tour de France crossed no mountain passes, but several lesser cols. The first was the col des Echarmeaux (712 m (2,336 ft)), on the opening stage from Paris to Lyon, on what is now the old road from Autun to Lyon. ... Third category climbs and hills: 4, 3, 2 and 1 point, respectively for the 1st to the 4th rider to climb the hill ...
How Are Those Mountain Climbs Classified In The Tour de France
The stage is the first alpine stage of this tour de France, the riders will pass one category 3 climb, one category 4 climb and three category 1 climbs for a total of 150.8km. It is a combination of different climbing stages. ... In fact, the current tour de France climbing grade is based on the height of the mountain, climbing distance, the ...
Tour de France: Making Sense of Cycling's Biggest Race
The Tour de France awards points toward the green jersey to the first 15 riders who cross the line of intermediate sprints and the finish of each stage. ... Climbs are graded from Category 4 to ...
Extended highlights: 2022 Tour de France, Stage 4
Highlights: 2022 Tour de France, Stage 4. July 5, 2022 12:51 PM. The first of seven hilly stages, including six Category 4 climbs, brought riders along the coast of the North Sea and into what proved to be a statement victory to close out Stage 4 of the 2022 Tour de France. Stay in the Know. Subscribe to our Newsletter and Alerts. Subscribe.
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2022-07-05T09:49:53.518Z. Welcome to Cyclingnews live text for Stage 4 of the Tour de France. The riders arrived on French soil yesterday and they will race for the first time there today ...
How are the categories for climbs decided?
2010, stage 12 finished just after the Col de la Croix Neuve. This was ranked as a Category 2, despite being only 3.1km long. It averaged 10% though, so hardly easy. Many of the category 4 climbs in the early flat stages would be unranked on a hillier stage. They exist so there is excitement in the king of the mountains classification early.
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| Tour de France Guide
Tour de France Guide. ... 10-8-6-4-2-1 points; Category 2 (10): 5-3-2-1 points; Category 3 (23): 2-1 points; Category 4 (17): 1 point; White: for the best young rider, this is awarded on the same basis as the yellow jersey, except the rider must be born after 1 January 1998, ie aged 25 or under. It is sponsored by Krys, a retail chain of opticians
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Tour de France climbs are ranked from category 1 (most difficult) to category 4 (least difficult). A fifth class, hors catégorie ("beyond category"), is reserved for the most challenging ascents.
List of Tour de France general classification winners
The Tour de France is an annual road bicycle race held over 23 days in July. Established in 1903 by newspaper L'Auto, the Tour is the best-known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours"; the others are the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), passing through France and neighbouring countries such as Belgium.
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What Do The Mountain Categories Mean in The Tour de France?

How Are Tour de France Climbs Classified?

Subjectivity of Tour de France Climbs

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Climb categorization explained

Categorization based on difficulty points

From Super Hors Catégorie down to the 5th category

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How Are Those Mountain Climbs Classified In The Tour de France

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