Despite not being a mountainous stage – and only featuring two fourth category climbs – at the end of this stage, the Tour will arrive in the Alps. Although those two climbs are the only ones to count, the altitude rises steadily from 46 metres at the start in Nîmes to 599 metres at the finish in Digne les Bains. The route crosses Provence and the Luberon wine area between Mont Ventoux and the Côte d'Azur before finishing in the spa town in the shadow of the high mountains that divide France form its neighbour Italy.
Digne les Bains is a fairly regular host to the Tour, having been a stage town eleven times before. Last time – in 2005 – David Moncoutié took the second of his two career stage wins after attacking the break on the road from Briançon to the north.
-
Is heat training playing with fire? There are hidden risks, but here's how to do it safely
Zach Nehr investigates the potentially hidden risks behind heat training – from the obvious to the surprising – and how cyclists can do it safely to reap performance rewards -
Zipp’s new wheels are allegedly faster than Scopes at a third of the price
It's a bold new 'budget' offering from Zipp, looking to capture a new market segment -
Win Fin, Flow Fork, Speed Sniffer: Specialized launches 'fastest road bike ever made' in the S-Works Tarmac SL9
American brand draws on Formula 1 lap times software to quantify performance beyond just aero and weight -
'We did not design it to win a comparison table' - Look's new race bike blends aero with real-world performance
Looks claims its newest race bike provides a 15-watt saving compared to its predecessor
