Tour de France 2020: stage-by-stage guide
Stage one, 29 August, Nice – Nice 156km
Two loops north of Nice over a serious-looking climb, the Côte de Rimiez, with a finish on the Promenade des Anglais; with 38km between the last bit of uphill and the finish, there is time for the peloton to regroup if it splits on the climb. Will favour sprinters who can climb a bit such as the Italian Elia Viviani.
Stage two, 30 August, Nice – Nice, 186km
The toughest opening weekend stage in 40 years. First category Cols de la Colmiane and Turini will show immediately if any favourites are off form, and should cause a selection of maybe 50 riders; a final little climb 9km from the end is tailor-made for home hopefuls Julian Alaphilippe and Thibaut Pinot.
Stage three, 31 August, Nice – Sisteron, 198km
Immensely scenic run north partly using the Route Napoléon through towns like Grasse and Digne les Bains. Peppered with small climbs early on, but a mainly downhill final 80km means unless it’s full-on all the way this should be one for the pure sprinters such as the Aussie Caleb Ewan or Ireland’s Sam Bennett.
Stage four, 1 September, Sisteron – Orcières-Merlette, 157km
An unusually tough summit finish for this early in the Tour at a ski resort famed for a 1971 duel between Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocaña, at the end of a long drag to 1,825m above sea level. There will be a sort-out among the favourites, but nothing conclusive. Another good finish for Alaphilippe, or a strong finisher such as Rigoberto Urán.
Stage five, 2 September, Gap - Privas, 183km
Largely downhill, this is another one earmarked for the sprinters, but the finish merits a closer look, climbing gradually in the final eight kilometres. Might favour a “punchy” finisher such as the Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet or Milan-San Remo winner Wout van Aert.
Stage six, 3 September, Le Teil –
Mont Aigoual, 191km
The second tough summit finish in three days: a 12km ascent to the Col de la Lusette, a brief downhill and an 8km drag to the finish. With 150km before the climbs, a break will get here well before the main men sort each other out. One for climbers with no aspirations overall, such as the Frenchmen Pierre Rolland or Kenny Elissonde.
Stage seven, 4 September, Millau – Lavaur, 168km
Brutally lumpy and baking-hot roads in the Massif Central and a meaty 14.5km climb in the middle. The finale will see a classic battle between a break and the sprinters’ teams, with odds on the break. A day for a strong all-terrain rider such as the Belgian Tiesj Benoot or France’s Lilian Calmejane.
Stage eight, 5 September, Cazèressur-Garonne – Loudenvielle, 141km
A classic Pyrenean stage: two firstcategory mountains and the supercategory Port de Balès. There should be a pattern to the racing now and a strong team such as Jumbo or Ineos should control the pace. It’s a tricky downhill to the finish so while the overall contenders test each other, the stage will suit a climber with descending skills such as the Slovenian Matej Mohoric.
Stage nine, 6 September, Pau – Laruns, 154km
A break should succeed today: there will be an intense battle until it forms and it will get whittled down on the Col de Marie-Blanque 19 km from the finish. One for a climber who can finish well, and isn’t high up overall: if Ireland’s Daniel Martin or Uran are not in the top 20 they will target this one.
Stage 10, 8 September, Île d’Oléron – Île de Ré, 170km
A transfer up the Atlantic coast for the flattest stage of the race. Bound to be a sprint finish so one for the likes of Bennett or Ewan or Viviani, but the question is whether the wind blows strongly off the sea in which case the race is likely to split and the outcome is anyone’s guess.
Stage 11, 9 September, Chatelaillon Plage – Poitiers, 167km
The only truly innocuous stage in the first 10 days, and there should be a westerly so this will be rapid. By now it will be obvious which sprinters are in the mix so there will be pressure on the second-stringers such as Nacer Bouhanni of France and Giacomo Nizzolo of Italy if they haven’t landed one yet.
Stage 12, 10 September, Chauvigny – Sarran-Corrèze, 218km
A rare stage longer than 200km. Lumpy roads into the fiefdom of expresident Chirac and tired legs will make this another day for a break while the select group of favourites wait for the Alps. Wise money will go on a clever one-day specialist such as the young world champion Mads Pedersen or a strongman like Thomas De Gendt.
Stage 13, 11 September, Châtel Guyon – Puy Mary Cantal, 191km
Arguably the hardest stage, with seven climbs ending with the highest pass of the Massif Central. It’s a day that should decide the polka-dot bestclimber’s jersey, while the finish will show who is looking good for the Alps. Will favour a pure climber such as Mikel Landa or Nairo Quintana, but anyone
wanting to win has to show well here.
Stage 14, 12 September, ClermontFerrand – Lyon, 197km
A second category climb after 68.5km will see off many of the sprinters, while a couple of short late hills will favour an attack from the likes of France’s Benoît Cosnefroy, or De Gendt. The overall contenders will want to stay out of trouble as the Alps loom.
Stage 15, 13 September, Lyon – Grand Colombier, 175km
A super-category uphill finish on a super-steep climb in the southern Jura; this is where GC riders such as Egan Bernal or Primoz Roglic will have to show what they have left. The concentrated climbing in the final 80km will make it difficult for a break to succeed so an overall contender such as Bernal might win here.
Stage 16, 15 September, La Tour du Pin – Villard de Lans, 164km
Never flat, and with an 11km climb into the Vercors Massif, this stage favours an early break, and the winner will probably escape on the ascent 20km from the finish. It’s the sort of stage that suits a climber who isn’t afraid to go solo, such as the Dutchman Bauke Mollema if he isn’t in the overall mix.
Stage 17, 16 September, Grenoble – Méribel col de la Loze, 168km
philosophy will win out more often than not.
As football begins to move beyond the Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo era, the idea of anchoring an entire dynasty to outrageously gifted individuals is rapidly falling out of fashion. These days it is systems and automatisms, highly choreographed pressing and sharply honed attacking patterns, that are the surest route to success. Most of the continent’s best teams – or at least, those who have made the best use of their resources – instinctively get this. Manchester City and Liverpool get it. So do Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta. Early Barcelona got it. Late Barcelona, calamitously, do not.
This was perhaps the biggest difference between Bayern and PSG in Lisbon: a team with a honed style, and a team still searching for theirs. Such was Bayern’s commitment to their way of playing that even in the dying minutes, protecting a lead, their defence still held a provocatively high line.
Meanwhile, in amongst the swift turnover of managers and their carpet-bombing recruitment strategy, the modern PSG have made only the loosest attempt at defining a playing identity. Perhaps the closest they came was the patient passing system they developed under Laurent Blanc, anchored by the balanced midfield of Marco Verratti, Blaise Matuidi and Thiago Motta.
Under Thomas Tuchel, they have made tentative steps towards moulding something more dynamic, more resilient. But it is still only really a halfphilosophy: a patchwork job hampered by the fact that whether it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Neymar at its vanguard, they have never possessed a front three capable of sustaining a robust pressing game.
And really, this is a broader question: about the sort of club PSG want to be. For years it has been content to exist as a sort of carbon-powered royal court, a luxury star vehicle, a VIP nightclub where the big names are indulged, the collective is neglected and they wonder why they always screw up at the sharp end of the Champions League. In fact, the real lesson of this season’s campaign was not their ultimate failure but how much progress they seem to have made in the interim. That’s the thing about being bankrolled by an entire state: you learn your lessons faster than most.