The fact that Colombian climbing legend Lucho Herrera won a very similar stage to this back in 1985 underlines the importance of this stage to the yellow jersey contenders. As the popular old adage goes, it’ll be one of those days they can’t win the Tour but can definitely lose it.
The main difficulty is the Ramaz, the first cat one ascent of the race and one only used once before, back in 2003 when Richard Virenque led the race over it and won in Morzine. The climb to Avoriaz is not super hard, but as a high summit finish it can be counted on to split the main contenders to some extent as those with the legs and those without are sorted out.
Stage profile
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Vuelta a España stage 1 LIVE: Race gets underway in Turin with a chance for the sprinters on the opening day
The final Grand Tour of the season gets underway with the Gran Salida in Turin, marking a first-ever Italian start for La Vuelta -
Who is the next Tadej Pogačar? - These are the super talents who could win the Tour de France before 2030
From Evenepoel to Seixas and Torres to Widar, here are the Grand Tour riders of the next decade -
Puck Pieterse forgoes Rwanda Road Worlds to focus on title defense at Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland
Reigning U23 women's road winner already back at MTB World Cup series to prepare for elite women's XCO race on September 13 -
Renewi Tour: Mathieu van der Poel powers past Arnaud De Lie to win stage 3 on the cobbles
Tim Wellens fades to third from breakaway trio and hands over GC lead to De Lie
