Tour de France 2025 Favourites stage 13: ITT into thin air
fotobureau Cor VosThe mountain time trial to Peyragudes is set to be a showdown between Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard, with the yellow jersey holding the strongest hand after his show of force yesterday.
(Slideshow route/profile)
Only 3 kilometres of the route are flat, which means this is no playground for the pure ITT specialists. After that, the road climbs steadily for 8 kilometres at an average gradient of 7.8%, with the final kilometre ramping up to 13%.
It was on those steep slopes that Pogačar beat Vingegaard in the finale of a road stage back in 2022, which might give him a psychological edge. Then again, Vingegaard and Evenepoel might take confidence from having beaten the Slovenian in the time trial at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné. On the other hand, that was a different kind of challenge — featuring only a sharp 1.8-kilometre climb, with the rest of the course being flat to rolling. More like the 5th stage of this Tour, where Pogacar and Evenepoel impressed, while Vingegaard delivered one of his weaker performances.
A full-on mountain time trial is a very different kind of test, altogether. Form on the day will likely decide which of the big three takes the win on the airstrip in Peyragudes. Given his power display on the climb to Hautacam, Pogacar looks more than up to the task.
Favourites 13th stage 2025 Tour de France
*** Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard
** Ben Healy, Florian Lipowitz, Kévin Vauquelin
* Thymen Arensman, Mattias Skjelmose, Primoz Roglic
Another interesting read: route 13th stage 2025 Tour de France.
