Today, the riders face a 181.5kms stage from Rennes to Mûr-de-Bretagne, and the key feature of the stage is the climb to the finish. The Mûr-de-Bretagne has featured just once before as a stage finish. In 2011, Cadel Evans timed his sprint perfectly to take the win. The climb has also featured in another stage, when it was on the route of a time-trial in the 1947 Tour.
The riders will have to climb the third category Col du Mont Bel-Air at 99kms. The intermediate sprint follows soon after with a lumpy enough second half of the stage. The battle for the green points jersey will continue at that intermediate sprint but there won’t be an opportunity to take any points at the finish for most of the sprinters.
The final climb of Mur de Bretagne is 2km long at an average gradient of 6.9%. We could see the likes of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) or Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) fighting for the win. GC contenders will have to vigilant though, as there could be gaps in the peloton and potential for seconds to be gained or lost.
