Albertville Val Thorens
Everything will be decided on the final mountain stage, featuring one of the longest summit finishes in Tour history
Never mind the previous two mountain stages, this third part of the Alpine triptych of the 2019 Tour de France will ensure that whoever finally takes the yellow jersey this year will be a worthy winner.
Going from Albertville to Val Thorens normally involves a short hop down the Isère valley on the N90 main road, to the foot of the climb at Moûtiers. However, the Tour organisers this year have designed a longer loop round to the east, ascending the beautiful Cormet de Roselend and then the second category Côte de Longefoy. As if these two climbs weren’t hard enough, the last climb of the 2019 Tour, the .HC ascent to Val Thorens, is a long slog at 33.4km long and culminates at 2,365m, making it the third-highest summit finish ever used in the Tour.
To win the Tour de France, therefore, the final yellow jersey will have had to master the climbs of four of France’s five mountain ranges, with the Alps taking front and centre in terms of toughness. The resilience needed by a rider to survive over four .HC climbs and three category ones in three consecutive days cannot and should not be underestimated.
Give the climbers enough to work with, and they might be able, in 2019,
to undermine the dominance of the rouleurs and time trial specialists who have dominated the race for the best part of the last decade. With seven climbs above 2,000m, compared to four last year, 2019 is no doubt a Tour de France for the high altitude specialists.
You win the Tour de France with consistency over three weeks. But this year, more than ever, the rider who is victorious at the end of this stage will have won the race with strong climbing, whether that is in the middle mountains of the Vosges and Massif Central, or the high climbs of the Pyrenees and especially the Alps.
Up above the Alpine valleys, there is a splendid view from Val Thorens. For one rider in particular, the wearer of the yellow jersey, the aspect will be even better than normal.