After a local lap around Monthey the riders set sail to Martigny before continuing upstream in the Rhône Valley. The first climb appears at kilometre 71. It’s a 14.6 kilometres test at 6.7% to Crans-Montana, which served a finishing venue in the recent Giro, but after another approach.
The riders descend back to the Rhône Valley to tackle a 2.5 kilometres climb at 5% to the village of Varen. A short descent and 8 kilometres on the flat later the finish climb begins. That is, as long as you take all different parts as a whole, since the last 22 kilometres are a patchwork of ascents and downhills.
The finale opens with 7.8 kilometres at 8.6% and following a section on descent there are still 10 kilometres left to race. The average gradient sits at 3%, but actually the gradients go all over the place. The mishmash opens with 2.7 kilometres at 7.6% before continuing with 4 kilometres at 5% and then the road goes down. The last 1.2 kilometres go up at 5.2%.
Two years ago, Richard Carapaz outsprinted his fellow-attacker Jakob Fuglsang in the same finale.
Starting at kilometre 128.5, the Golden Kilometre serves two opportunities to gain time bonuses of 3, 2 and 1 seconds. The first three riders on the line take 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
Ride the route yourself? Download GPX stage 4 2023 Tour de Suisse.
Another interesting read: results 4th stage 2023 Tour de Suisse.
Tour de Suisse 2023 stage 4: route, profile, more
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