Tour de France 2017 Stage 14 Preview
The Tour says goodbye to the Pyrenees with a stage that looks tailor-made for a breakaway.
The Tour says goodbye to the Pyrenees with a stage that looks tailor-made for a breakaway. – By Whit Yost
This year’s Tour de France says goodbye to the Pyrenees on Stage 14, with a 181.5km transition stage that takes the race into the challenging terrain of France’s Massif Central. The stage begins on mostly flat roads, but the final 100km offer a steady series of hills and valleys, including two Category 3 ascents.These hills will make the second half of the stage too hard for pure sprinters like Quick-Step’s Marcel Kittel and Lotto Soudal’s Andre Greipel to challenge for the stage victory in Rodez, while the GC contenders will probably be more concerned with recovering from the Pyrenees and preparing for Sunday’s difficult stage to Le Puy en Velay. This means it’s the perfect day for a breakaway to go the distance.
RELATED: What Goes into a Tour BreakawayBMC’s Greg Van Avermaet and Orica-Scott’s Michael Matthews are the top favorites for a stage of this sort as the hilly profile suits their well-rounded abilities. As stars of cycling’s one-day “Classics,” both men are able to attack, climb, and sprint—meaning they can win a stage like this from both a breakaway and with a sprint, should a reduced peloton hit the uphill finish in Rodez together.Van Avermaet actually won the first Tour de France stage victory of his career in Rodez back in 2015, and Matthews took his first Tour de France victory on a stage with a similar profile last year. Dimension Data’s Edvald Boasson Hagen is worth keeping an eye on as well. The Norwegian has come close to winning stages several times in this year’s Tour and is also threat from both a breakaway and a sprint.
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