Tour de France 2016 Favourites stage 20: All-or-nothing for Aru or Quintana

For the GC contenders the 2016 Tour de France basically ends with the plunge down to Morzine. Totalling at 146.5 kilometres, stage 20 comes with 44 kilometres of climbing. No summit finish however, the the line lies at the end of a 12 kilometres descent. The parcours is tailor-made for an all-or-nothing attack by the likes of Aru and Bardet. (Slideshow route/profile)

Yet, after stage 8 we know Chris Froome has transformed. All of a sudden he is one of the best descenders in the pack, so why bother to put pressure on him in the descent? An early attack is the (only) way to go.

The riders are to crest four passes: Col des Aravis (6,7 kilometres at 7%), Col de la Colombiére (11.7 kilometres at 5.8%), Col de la Ramaz (13.9 kilometres at 7.1%) and Col de Joux Plane (11.6 kilometres at 8.5%), before they plunge down to Morzine, albeit the drop is interspersed by a short and modest climb at 2.9%.

Stage 20 in the Tour de France is 100% attackers territory. And a good descender like Pantano could be in business, too.

Favourites 20th stage Tour de France 2016:

*** Romain Bardet, Fabio Aru, Chris Froome, Vincenzo Nibali, Rafal Majka
** Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, Jarlinson Pantano, Warren Barguil
* Adam Yates, Serge Pauwels, Wilco Kelderman, Nelson Oliveira