The climbing continues on stage 7 of the Tour de France Femmes as the race leaves the Massif Central and hits the Alps for the first time with a visit to the Col du Granier.
Following stage 6 to Ambert, a challenging day, though one which ultimately changed little in the greater GC picture, a descent finish into Chambéry provides another chance for the daring to make a difference.
Through six days of racing, six riders at the top of the standings – still led by Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal) – are separated by fewer than 60 seconds, with another six following within the next 60.
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The yellow jersey is very much up for grabs then, with eight major climbs (classified as hors catégorie, 1 or 2) lying between now and the Tour's end. The first two of those tests await on Friday, forming the lion's share of the day's 1,950 metres of climbing.
Like with stage 6, the contenders can ease their way into the stage (relatively speaking, after six days of fast, hard racing) with 104km of mostly flat roads. However, the battle for the breakaway will be fierce, no doubt, so it might not be the gentlest of starts.
The first of the day's ascents is the Côte de Saint-Franc, a 3.8km second-category climb which ascends through the meadows on a single lane road. At 6.9%, it'll sting some legs but shouldn't make a difference at this early stage.
A short descent to the feed zone is swiftly followed by the start of the ascent towards the Granier featuring the fourth-category Côte de Berland (1.2km at 7.2%) along the way. The uphill run winds through the forest towards a brief respite at Saint-Pierre d'Entremont, where the race crosses from the Isère department into Savoie.
It's a picturesque road up, says Julie Bego, currently the best young rider at the Tour and a local who lives and studies near Chambéry.
"I know this climb very well because it's the road where I train," Bego told Cyclingnews on Wednesday. "The first climb is a little road, the Côte de Saint-France, but it's quite steep, and after that we go down and have a long climb up to the Col du Granier. It's very beautiful, but I'm not sure we have time to enjoy the landscape."
Upon exiting the town, there's little respite as the peloton heads on 8.9km up the Granier. At an average gradient of 5.4%, it may not seem the hardest climb in the world, but the average belies the real challenge of the climb – "The road up the Granier is very irregular, it's very hard," Bego said.
The early kilometres of the ascent swing from averages of 3.7 to 6.3 and back before settling on an average of around 6% for the second half. The hardest slopes come at the top, however, with the final kilometre averaging 7.1%.
Visma-Lease a Bike directeur sportif Jos Van Emden speculated that the stage may play host to "one big sprint up to the top of the Granier" as riders battle to be first to the potentially stage-defining descent to Chambéry.
"For the downhill, it's not really technical – for me, it's not," Bego said. "But when we saw the speed of the bunch today, for example, it's crazy.
"So, the descent can become technical because the girls are very fast in the downhill."
There are certainly twists and turns on the two-lane road down into Chambéry, but, as Bego says, the latter half of the descent is run on faster, less technical roads. All in all, the descent is 15km long at an average of around 5.7%, with 2km of flat to finish.
The strongest riders in the race made themselves known on stage 5's tricky, hilly finish in Guéret, and they played out something of a ceasefire on stage 6, despite the day being, in Van Emden's words, "harder" than the race over the Granier.
But there could be an opportunity to pierce the armour of one or two of the contenders. Le Court-Pienaar's teammate Sarah Gigante, for instance, struggled to stay in touch on the descent of all three climbs during stage 6. Any GC hopefuls confident in their downhill ability will surely put the Australian climbing star under serious pressure during that final descent.
"There are strong descenders that will look to break the race apart. So it's not a climb, but it's another option to create the difference," Liv-AlUla-Jayco directeur sportif Gene Bates told Cyclingnews.
"I think once upon a time it was a bit taboo or unsportspersonlike to take advantage on a descent, but I think we've sort of moved on, both in men's and the women's cycling now. If you're a stronger rider on the descent, why wouldn't you take advantage of that, just as if you're a stronger climber, you make your move on the climb. So, I think it's fair game."
It remains to be seen which riders will lead the Tour into Chambéry on Friday afternoon, but the top two from last year, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez), will surely be among the top favourites. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) is another top favourite given her descending ability. For Gigante and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), the shoe is on the other foot, and the pair will do well to limit their losses.
As for race leader Le Court-Pienaar? She's still taking it day by day, as she tells the press each afternoon in the sports halls of central France. The Mauritian has passed the test of the Col du Béal on Thursday – "I felt really, really good, better than I really expected. No sign of weaknesses on my side so far" – but each day now is another, bigger test of her capabilities, especially as the higher mountains loom.
"Tomorrow is another big day, so we'll take it day by day like we've been doing this whole Tour," she told Cyclingnews in the post-stage 6 press conference. "I've got the best climber on the team in Sarah Gigante, so we've got a good card to play there. I've got a good Joker card that I can just whip out whenever I feel like it.
"So far, we're very motivated, we have good legs in the team, good heads on our shoulders, and a good plan. If it works, it works; if it doesn't, then we've so far done an amazing Tour."
Mountains
- Côte de Saint-Franc (3.8km at 6.9%), 111.8km
- Côte de Berland (1.2km at 7.2%), 124.5km
- Col du Granier (8.9km at 5.4%), 142.4km
Sprints
- Groslée-Saint-Benoit, 73.2km
