While riders at the Tour de France have baked as temperatures reached the high 30s in recent days, it seems there will be some break from those conditions today when temperatures were expected to be colder, with fog on some of the climbs his morning.
How that will impact the performances of the top riders remains to be seen. However, Tour champion and current 2nd placed overall, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), is regarded as being slightly weaker on the climbs in very hot conditions while going better than his rivals in colder and generally more inclement weather.
Today's stage takes the riders 129.7km from Saint-Gaudens to the summit finish on the Peyragudes. It also takes in the 12km cat 1 Col d'Aspin, the 8.6km cat 2 Hourquette d'Ancizan and the 8.5km Col de Val Louron-Azet before the finishing climb of some 8.1km.
Advertisement
The mist witnessed this morning on the summit finish may lift as the temperature rises a little but the conditions will be different today. And it will be interesting to see if that changes the climbing balance between race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), who seems to cope really well in very high temperatures, and Pogačar with his preference for cooler weather.
Related News
The temperatures today won't exactly be cold for most of the route; Saint-Gaudens, for example, expected to be between 16-27°C today. However, the climbs will be much cooler than what the riders have been used to in recent days and on a very hard and explosive short stage, that may play into Pogačar's hands.
On the Col d'Aspin temperatures will range from 9-18°C while the same range is predicted for the Hourquette d'Ancizan. The Col de Val Louron-Azet will experience temperatures in the 11-22°C range. On the Peyragudes the temperature range will be between 7-18°C.
