Tour de France 2015 Favourites stage 9: TTT with uphill arrival

Two days of racing in Brittany, two times a pilgrimage to a holy place for all cyclists of the peninsula. After yesterday’s finish at the Mur de Bretagne, today the arrival is on top of Côte de Cadoudal. A short vicious climb to conclude a vicious team time trial. (Slideshow route/profile)

After 26 kilometres of pushing on a hilly course along the Brittany coast, the last 1.7 kilometres rise by a 6.2% grade. In theory, this should be for BMC, a strong squad with the likes Tejay van Garderen and Rohan Dennis. But not just in theory. The TTT in the 2015 Dauphiné was on an equally gruelling track and the red/black team took the win, closely followed by Astana and Movistar.

Etixx is strong also, but as Tony Martin abandoned their motor is out. Same for Trek with no Fabian Cancellara on board since stage 4. Still, Etixx should be able to perform well with Uran and Kwiatkowski.

Sky is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Strong squad with the likes of Froome and Porte.

All riders of LottoNL showed good form in the ITT in Utrecht, so they may be able to suprise, especially since they still have all riders on board.

Normally Orica GreenEdge is world class, but with Gerrans, Albasini and Impey out, and Michael Matthews suffering from injuries, they will be glad to cross the finish line with five riders.

*** BMC, Sky
** Movistar, Etixx-QuickStep, Astana
** Tinkoff-Saxo, LottoNL-Jumbo