The Tour has reached Eastern France after a series of flat stages, and therefore, it is time for some hills again. We're in the region of the Vosges mountains with three small but difficult climbs to master: the Col de la Schlucht (8.9 km at 4.1 percent), the Col du Platzerwasel (8.7 km at 7.6 percent) and the Col du Firstplan (8.4 km at 5.4 percent).
These look harmless on paper, but could reveal themselves as treacherous for the general classification contenders - remember when Lance Armstrong got isolated from his teammates back in the 2005 Tour's stage 8? That was on the Col de la Schlucht.
-
They're off! European early road racing calendar kicks off in Spain this weekend
One-day races in Valencia and Mallorca get the ball rolling for elite men and women -
'It's never going to be a safe sport' - David Millar says peloton should treat safety in similar way to doping
'The biggest crashes happen when individual racers take risks, and often it's a zero-sum game' says the Scottish former professional -
Lidl-Trek back 18-year-old Albert Philipsen for key Tour Down Under stage to Willunga Hill
Young Dane shows inexperience in hectic stage 4 but remains the best young rider in seventh overall -
Tour Down Under GC battle remains poised on knife-edge before key Willunga stage
Javier Romo holds fragile four-second lead on 2024 runner-up Jhonatan Narvaez
