Pau and La Grande Boucle belong to each other like a dog to its boss. It is the most visited location in Tour de France history. In 106 editions the town hosted La Grande Boucle 72 times. Pau adds one more visit to its tally in 2020. Last year, Julian Alaphilippe stormed to victory in the town in the foothills of the yrenee.s
This time the riders click into their pedals in Pau for a virtually flat opening of 50 kilometres. Then the Col de La Hourcère appears, which is a tough test. The ascents is 11.1 kilometres long and slopes at 8.8%. A short descent leads onto the next climb, the Col de Soudet. Peaking out the highest point of the day (1,540 metres), the ascent is 3.8 kilometres at 8.5%.
A descent of roughly 20 kilometres takes the riders back into the valley before they tackle a hilly zone leading up to the last climb. The Col de Marie Blanque is 7.7 kilometres long and the average gradients sits at 8.6%. So that’s yet another steep climb, although the first part is doable. Conequently, the second part is even harder with gradients hovering around 12%. The first three riders over the Marie Blanque gain time bonuses of 8, 5 and 2 seconds.
A downhill of 12 kilometres leads into Bilhères-en-Ossau. The riders storm through the village to tackle the last 6 kilometres, a section that runs slightly uphill.
Two editions ago the Tour also featured a finish. The riders came from the other side. After attacking in the downhill of the Aubisque, Primoz Roglic outgunned a group with Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin. The Slovene took the spoils.
Tour de France 2020 stage 9: profiles, social media
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