Tour de France 2020 Favourites stage 16: Alpine race with punchy finale

The first ascent that stands out is the Col de Porte, which is a climb of 7.2 kilometres at 7% with is peak 66.5 kilometres into the race. Straight after the (long) descent the Côte de Revel appears. This 6.2 kilometres climb at 7.9% leads onto an intermediate phase with mostly downhills and some false flat sections.

The biggest hurdle of the day begins with some 35 kilometres remaining. The Montée de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte is 14.6 kilometres long and the average gradient sits at 6.5%. So at the top there are still 20 kilometres left to the finish. This runs predominantly false flat downhill until the final 2.3 kilometres rise at 6.6% to the line in Villard de Lans.

The course lends itself perfectly to set up as successful breakaway, although it is also a viable option for GC teams to control the race and go for the stage win and bonus seconds. The first three riders over the Montée de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte earn 8, 5 and 2 seconds. So why not attack on the flanks, be the first to crest the summit, and push on hard to the finish line – both Jumbo-Visma and Team Ineos have the firepower to do so with their mix of climbers with time trialing skills.

When a group is still together at the foot of the finish climb, punchers like Yates, Alaphilippe, Valverde and Teuns are the men to watch.

Obviously, how the race unfolds will depend on the GC, so we’ll update this article during the Tour de France.

Favourites 16th stage 2020 Tour de France

*** Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates
** Egan Bernal, Wout Poels, Tom Dumoulin, Enric Mas, Dylan Teuns
* Thomas De Gendt, Julian Alaphilippe, Alejandro Valverde, Michael Woods

Take a look at the route of the 16th stage on the Tour de France.