Highlights of the Tour de France 2020 – Tour de France

The extraordinary strength of this climb does not lie in its length (21.5 km in total from the foot, Brides-les-Bains), nor in its average percentages (7.8%), but in the unique profile of last six terminals, on the new elevation road. This consists of a succession of impressive walls and floors, with many passages over 20%. Short laces, violent raids and incessant ruptures of slope, which offer cyclists a phenomenal field of expression.

Arrivals at the summit: lower but more numerous

The 2019 Tour had six passes beyond the 2000m altitude (Vars, Izoard, Galibier and Iseran passes and the arrivals at Tourmalet and Val Thorens), a record. In July, oxygen will be less rare on the course, where the highest pass will be the Loze Pass for an arrival at the top.

Six stages will also have their finishing line drawn at the end of an ascent: at Orcieres-Merlette (1,825 m, 4th stage), at Mount Aigoual (1,560 m, 6th stage), at the pace of Peyrol (1 589 m, 13th stage), at the Grand Colombier (1,501 m, 15th stage), at the Loze Pass (2,304 m, 17th stage) and to some extent at the Planche des belles filles, the conclusion of the only one against -the-watch (1035 m, 20th stage). This will feed the ambition of climbers and open a vast playground throughout the next Tour.

The regular of the course: a board to do everything

It's not just a simple step, it's an appointment. Introduced in 2012, the Planche des belles filles is well established in the landscape of the Tour as soon as the event comes to slip into the Vosges mountains. We will meet again next July, for the fifth time in nine editions. After having been costumed in "Super Planche" during the last Tour – an added kilometer – she is again in a new role, that of a severe hill climb (5.9 km at 8.5%) against the – who will conclude the Tour before the parade of the last stage.

The biggest day: a massive and central unevenness

On July 10, the day will certainly be grueling for the peloton, facing one of its longest stages (191 km) and the maximum elevation gain (4,400 m announced). No mythical places, Dantesque climbs in this course that will cross the Massif Central but a constant succession of climbs and descents. This will remind us of this precious mid-mountain which had played a leading role in 2019, as much on the attrition of the organizations that weighed on the end of the Tour as on the scenario of the stages made more unpredictable.

Arrivals in sprint: the dropper for specialists

They will not be legion in 2020. The general profile of this Tour de France does not encourage to bet on many massive arrivals: at best the sprinters can tick one of the two arrivals in Nice (the first, less gourmet in altitude during the day), Sisteron, Privas and its long false flat amount, Lavaur, the island of Re, Poitiers, possibly Lyon, and the Champs-Elysees, obviously.