Mâcon Saint- Étienne
It lacks the altitude of the big mountain stages, but there is relentless climbing as the race hits the Massif Central
Cycling may be the activity du jour of the ABC1 white-collar demographic in anglosaxon countries right now, but the French have always had a more proletarian attraction to the sport. Raymond Poulidor, the country boy, was always more popular than city-slicker Tour rival Jacques Anquetil because of his everyman image. The academic Hugh Dauncey argued in an article titled, ‘French Cycling Heroes of the Tour’ that Bernard Hinault was popular for his indomitable character, but also that he had universal appeal for the working classes: “Although from a rural area, Hinault was not from an agricultural family, since his father was a railway employee. Thus he appeared as someone with whom rural/agricultural and urban/ industrial France could proudly identify.” Maybe the fans look from the dusty faces of the peloton to the image they hold in their heads of the factory or mine worker and find something in common.
Today’s stage, from Mâcon to Saint-Étienne, has both a rural and industrial flavour. The race will run south along the Beaujolais Hills and Monts du Lyonnais, which separate the broad Loire and Rhône valleys, through rolling countryside and
higher ground (with consequently tough climbing). Then to SaintÉtienne, an old seat of the French coal-mining industry. The last mine closed in 1973, but the link between the working classes and the peloton still endures.
This stage will also be a throwback, organisers hope, to a more anarchic style of racing. The relentless climbing – not a single climb above second category, but seven classified climbs packed in – is aimed to break the control of the stronger teams. None of the climbs on their own is that big or difficult – the longest is the Côte d’Affoux at 8.5km and the stage comes nowhere near breaking 1,000m altitude. But like shots of eau-de-vie, it’s the succession of high percentages that gets you. This stage has a bit of everything: maybe even GC-defining action.