Hell of a hill looms large

IT’S not the Alps or the Pyrenees, it’s a small hill in Bretagne, but it will offer the first glimpse as to how the Tour de France contenders are feeling.

The Mur de Bretagne stands between the peloton and finish line — twice — in the final 16km of tonight’s sixth stage.

The site of a famous Cadel Evans win en route to his history-making 2011 triumph, it’s a testing 2km stretch of road that carries significance in the Australian cycling world.

On a largely flat first nine days of the Tour, it stands out as the early barometer for how Richie Porte and his general classification rivals are tracking. Expect shadow boxing but it’s a climb that rewards the opportunist if others fall asleep at the wheel.

And if the time gaps aren’t big, the morale boost could be.

“The Mur de Bretagne will be a good form indication,” Porte said yesterday. “Cadel won it in 2011 and went on to win the race. We did it in 2015 and it was pretty selective. The GC guys could all look at each other … we’ll just see what happens with the GC.”

If the title contenders do hold their cards, expect an opportunist attack from the likes of Porte’s teammate Greg Van Avermaet, Belgian great Philippe Gilbert or his teammate Julian Alaphilippe.

Versatile sprinter Michael Matthews admits there aren’t as many stages that suit him this year compared with his green-jersey run 12 months ago, but he said he was relishing the prospect of taking on the Mur de Bretagne.

“That’s one I’m really looking forward to,” Matthews said.

“That’s a special stage where Cadel Evans won a few years ago. It’s every man for himself and the strongest man will win, I suppose, and I love that sort of stuff.

“It will be a nice stage and an exciting stage for the fans.”

Matthews doesn’t expect big time gaps among the general classification group.

“It’s not going to be massive gains and you may end up using more energy than what you gain on a stage like that,” he said.

“It’s only 2km. You can’t make much difference there.”

Stage 6 starts in Brest tonight (Australian time) and runs 181km to the top of the Mur de Bretagne.