THE ROUTE
Italian Fabio Aru won at the
top of La Planche des Belles
Filles on the 2017 Tour.
THE FIRST
MOUNTAIN
BATTLE
The Vosges double-header on Stages 5
and 6 will deliver the first real GC test of
the Tour, particularly the contest at La
Planche des Belles Filles, which features
a tough extra kilometre at the end of a
day with 4 000m of vertical gain.
BY JULIEN CHESNAIS
72 | TO U R
D E F R A NC E 2019
hile the first few
stages of the
2019 Tour will see
the sprinters and
puncheurs out front, Stages
5 and 6 bring the climbers to
the fore, and present the first
real GC test of the Tour. It’s
not often the Tour features
a summit finish this early in
the race, but like in 2017,
La Planche des Belles Filles
will provide some week-one
drama and, if it lives up to its
reputation, some insight into
this year’s main contenders.
W
Into the mountains
The peloton will have got its
legs warmed up on day five, a
175.5km medium mountain
stage that starts in Saint-
Dié-des-Vosges, new to the
Tour this year. Riders begin
in fairly straightforward
fashion, with a trip across
the Alsace plain to Obernai,
where they then head south
towards the Vosges.
The real test comes on the
last 70km, which features
three climbs: the Côte du
Haut-Koenigsbourg (5.9km
at 5.9%), the Côte des
Trois-Epis (5km at 6.7%)
and the Côte des Cinq
Châteaux (4.6km at 6.1%).
The summit of this last hill
comes about 15km from
the finish in Colmar. The last
time a stage ended in the
Haut-Rhin’s prefecture, 10
years ago, winner Heinrich
Haussler finished alone after
a long raid in a deluge. This
scenario could very well be
repeated.
“This may well be the
first stage of the 2019 Tour
where a breakaway will go
all the way to the finish,”
suggests former French
L’ÉQUIPE
INTO THE VOSGES