The climbing metres are all the more intimidating, as the route is flat in the first hour of racing. All of the uphill hardship is crammed together within 130 kilometres. Auch!
The first climb travels in 10.2 kilometres at 7.2% to Nax. The riders then fly down to the vally only to return to cimbing some 10 kilometres later.
Firstly to Les Pontis, a 7.3 kilometres test at 7.5%. There’s no downhill reward, on the contrary, the route continues to climb to Saint-Luc, a postcard village at 1,564 metres above sea level. The climb is 4.6 kilometres long and the average gradient sits at 7.8%.
Still no proper downhill after Saint-Luc. A rolling section of some 15 kilometres precedes a minor descent to the foot of Les Ziettes d’en Bas. This is a 4 kilometres climb with an average gradient of almost 6%.
At last, a descent that’s worthy of that name. The pilots fly down into the valley and after 10 kilometres on the flat the climb to the line commences. The total distance is 30 kilometres, but it’s devided in several parts.
The first part is familiar, to Les Pontis. The route continues to follow the road of earlier today for awhile, but after the small village of Fang the riders keep right at a Y-junction.
The climbing intensifies again in Vissoie. The ascent to Grimentz is 6.2 kilometres long and averages 7.1%. The medieval village would have been a beautiful backdrop to the stage finish, but there are still 7 kilometres to go. A descent at shallow gradients continues onto the last uphill kilometres before the riders finish high in the Zinaltal, or Val d’Anniviers.
The first three riders on the line gain time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
Another interesting read: live race report 4th stage 2022 Tour de Romandie.
Tour de Romandie 2022 – stage 4: route, profile, more
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