Preview 20th stageShort but sweet, that’s how we can describe the twentieth stage in the Tour de France 2023. On the way to Le Markstein, there are no less than six categorized climbs on the menu. Will this be a stage we are still talking about thirty years later?
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From the start in Belfort you have to climb immediately. There is a good chance that attackers who want to play all or nothing will try it here on the Ballon d’Alsace, because after reaching the top of the 11.5-kilometer climb (average 5.3 percent), it is ‘only’ 109 kilometers to the finish line. Then it goes via the Col de la Croix des Moinas, Col de Grosse Pierre and Col de la Schlucht towards the Petit Ballon, a 9.3 kilometer first category climb with an average gradient of 8.1 percent. The climb is less well known, but about as steep as the Alpe d’Huez.
The Col du Platzerwasel is then the last climb in this Tour de France. There is a good chance that we will get into a hand-to-hand fight, because most of the servants will have been smoked by then. The 7.1 kilometer long climb has an average steepness of 8.4 percent and reaches the top at 7.5 kilometers from the finish. The road then rises slightly and the last four kilometers are flat on a plateau towards the finish in Le Markstein, the place where Annemiek van Vleuten won last year’s Tour de France Femmes.
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Who will win the Tour is almost known, but maybe we will get the resurrection of Tadej Pogacar on Saturday. It would be a great story for the Netflix documentary, but it is of course not realistic to clear a backlog of 7 minutes and 35 minutes on Jonas Vingegaard. Will the Dane dot the i’s and win his second stage in this Tour de France? The battle for third place is also fun. Adam Yates is 1.16 minutes ahead of Carlos Rodríguez and 1.34 minutes ahead of brother Simon Yates. Who can go on stage? Or is Pogacar still falling off?
Especially the battle for the KOM jersey is very interesting. Giulio Ciccone leads with 88 points and is only six points ahead of Felix Gall and seven ahead of Vingegaard. On the second category climbs (the first three climbs) there are 5 points ready for the first rider, on the third category climb there are 2 and on the top of the Petit Ballon and Platzerwasel there are 10 points each. Ciccone will undoubtedly want to attack early, while Gall (8th in the classification) and Vingegaard will focus on more important matters. Will they beat the last hurdles?
Between 4:54 pm and 5:17 pm we know who has officially won the Tour de France 2023, although that is probably no surprise.
Dry and wet
The weather during the final stages of the Tour de France is a night and day difference, Weeronline reports. Saturday is expected to be dry, Sunday it can get wet. The women will have a sunny and hot start on Sunday. On Saturday, clouds and sunny periods alternate and the afternoon temperature is between 18 and 20 degrees. However, due to the high humidity, it can feel a few degrees warmer, the weather bureau emphasizes. The wind is blowing weakly from the west, but at the finish on Le Markstein it can occasionally blow stronger.
The 20th stage Tour de France 2023 in short:
• Ride type: mountain ride
• Distance: 133.5 kilometers
• Start: 1.45 pm in Belfort
• Finish: between 4.54 pm and 5.17 pm
Stay with In Het Wiel videos, news, podcasts, reports, all results and standings and premium stories from our reporters Daniël Dwarswaard, Daan Hakkenberg and Thijs Zonneveld fully informed about the Tour de France 2023 on our special Tour de France file.
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