2023-07-09 08:00:42
The volcano has been sleeping for 35 years, but promises to emerge as in its most explosive years, revived by the battle between the Danish Jonas Vingegaard and the slovenian Tadej Pogacarthat CThey begin to forge a historic rivalry who is preparing to overcome the revalidation of the Puy de Dôme.
The mythical peak of Auvergne, in a special category, is a different kind of pass that fuels its legend in the hardness of its ramps, but also in the mystery that the place encloses.
Included in the Unesco Heritage list since 2018, the site has benefited from special protection since the late 80s and for this reason the Tour hardly enters the spiral road that ascends to its sleeping crater.
Exceptionally, it will do so in the ninth stage of this edition, which will start from Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, the city where Raymond Poulidor lived, and which will culminate in its dome, at 1,415 metersafter traveling 182.4 kilometers.
All eyes will be on the last 13but especially in the final four, a real wall that hangs parallel to a railway, the only way to climb to the top, which limits tourism and preserves the place.
The Puy de Dôme is thus a sanctuary that no broker knowsalthough exceptionally recognitions were authorized on June 2.
Vingegaard was impressed and assured that I had never faced “such hard slopes”while Pogacar was unable to travel because he was recovering from the wrist injury he suffered in Liège-Baston-Liège.
“It will be a new experience for everyone.I’m sure the race will be broken again,” said the Slovenian.
After them, other battles, such as the one between the Australian Jai Hindley and the Spanish Carlos Rodríguez, separated by 1.56 minutes and that will cross their sabers in this port that closes the first week of competition.
But the world awaits the face to face between Vingegaard and Pogacar, who promises to revive a new chapter of the many that have already signed in the last three editions. The background is promising, because in the first week of this Tour they have not wasted a meter prone to battle to attack their rival.
The Auvergne volcano is an exceptional battlefield. The first nine kilometers, which lead to the foot of the final wall, go up the steepest road of the two that exist, but the percentages are low.
That area is free. Tourists can climb there without problems and there the runners will hear the clamor of the public.
A duel without an audience
But upon reaching the car park, a barrier will open to an unknown world that they will climb in the silence of the volcano, without spectators, who will have no access, and only a few cars from the organization will be able to take.
The team assistants they can go up by bike or on foot and mechanical breakdowns will have harsh consequences because it will not be easy to get assistance.
Surveillance will be extreme, even with the use of thermal drones to detect the daring who want to gain the road by hiding in the nooks and crannies of the forest.
The local authorities do not want the bustle of the Tour to break the fragile balance of a mountain which gives its name to a department and which stands as a recognizable figure of French relief. It was the condition they put to allow, once again, his name to write a page in the history of the race.
A road of just 3.5 meters, made of newly renovated asphalt, skirts the mountain to a peak that the Tour has only reached thirteen times, but which has always left a mark on the history of the race.
Since the triumph of Fausto Coppi in 1952 and that of the Spanish Federico Martín Bahamontes seven years later, the volcano has seen deeds and failures that continue in the minds of fans.
The Spanish Luis Ocaña put the Belgian Eddy Merckx to the limit in the 70s y signed two victories at the top of the volcanothe last 50 years ago, when he finished in yellow in Paris.
The Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk also won twice, while the Spanish Ángel Arroyo won the time trial in 1983 and the Danish Johnny Weltz was the last winner in the year in which Pedro Delgado took the final victory.
But of all the feats, perhaps the most legendary is the battle between Jacques Anquetil and Poulidor in 1964. While the Spanish Julio Jiménez achieved the stage victory, the two Frenchmen were in a duel for the general classification in which “Poupou” prevailed with 42 seconds, insufficient to snatch the yellow jersey from Norman that he ended up wearing on the final podium for the fifth year.
Now, there are not few who compare the charisma of Poulidor with that of Pogacar and the coldness of Anquetil with the sobriety of Vingegaard. The Puy de Dôme waits patiently to give a legendary certificate to this new rivalry.
Stage 9: Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat – Puy de Dôme
Distance: 182,4 km
Salida: 1:45 p.m. (11:45 a.m. GMT)
Expected arrival: 18.18 (16.18 GMT)
Mountain:
Felletin level (4th), 2.1 km at 5.2%, 107.6 to go. Pontcharraud level (4th), 3.3 km at 5.3%, 96.7 to go. Pontaumur level ( 3a), 3.3 km at 5.3%, 56.2 to go Puy de Dôme (Special), 13.3 km at 7.7%, at the finish line.
#Tour #France #Stage #Tour #France #schedule #route #profile #stage