The second of the Alpine stages of the Tour de France sees the riders take in seven categorised climbs along the route from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Amongst the climbs to be negotiated is the Hors Categorie Col du Glandon.
There are going to be a lot of tired legs in the Tour at this stage, and there will be absolutely no respite today. The climbing starts immediately with the second category Col Bayard with the summit just 6.5kms after the start. It hardly eases off after that, although the first five climbs of the day are all just second or third category.
The Col du Glandon is where we might expect to see some real action. Nairo Quintana has said that he feels he needs to attack earlier in stages if he’s going to gain any time on Chris Froome. With the final climb of Lacets de Montvernier being quite short, it means the Glandon may offer the Colombian the best opportunity to try and attack Froome.
Once again, we might see a large group go up the road from early on. At this late stage of the race, there are still a lot of riders who feel that they could challenge for the King of the Mountains title, and this could promote attacking racing.
