2023-07-01 07:44:24
Thierry Gouvenou, the technical director of the Tour de France, usually doesn’t like to brag too much. But this time, right in the middle of Pike’s Hill, he has the mischievous grin of someone who thinks he’s pulled it off. If in 185 km, the peloton will already swallow 3300 m of altitude difference during the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, it is the last 200 which risk blowing everything up, ten kilometers from the finish.
As soon as the Basques introduced him to the Pike coast when he visited the area in 2021, Gouvenou knew he had found the rare pearl: the place that can crack the peloton and put the favorites up front as soon as the first step. On the heights of Bilbao, the Pike coast is only 2.1 km long but takes runners up 202 m in altitude. Especially with its passages at 20% which will martyr the lungs and fill the thighs with lactic acid. The first part, just above the highway is not very complicated, despite a passage at 12%. The second is more dizzying. The best should be able to climb it in just over six minutes.
“The objective is to disgust a part of the peloton from playing the general”
“To find this slope, we looked a lot, recalls Gouvenou. The organizers made us proposals, but nothing really suited me. But when I saw it, I knew it was good. Beyond the slope, everything is perfect, with the width of the road which will provide a great spectacle. I fell in love with this last climb. It’s a kind of Basque Mur de Huy (where the Flèche Wallone finishes). All you need are the red bricks to believe you are in Belgium. These slopes are really terrible. »
For the organizers of the Tour 2023, the goal is obvious. “I assume it perfectly: the objective is to disgust a part of the peloton from playing the general, continues Gouvenou. It will truly be the meeting of the best. Believe me, we will find all the big favorites of the Tour up there. »
In the little game of predictions, a name seems to be essential. “A 100% Alaphilippe could shine on this kind of stage, concedes Gouvenou. The only certainty I have is that we will have the top of the basket at the finish. The other favorite is obviously called Mathieu van der Poel. Neither will claim final victory, but Tour favorites including Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar won’t be able to afford to be down even a hundred yards.
The gaps will obviously not be decisive and the best should regroup in about twenty seconds at the finish. Because at the top of the Pike hill, there will be 9.6 km of racing left, including 4 of not very fast descents and a final passage through the streets of Bilbao. Those who will take the lead at the top should therefore be able to explain themselves for the final victory. Because behind, the peloton will have been dissolved a long time ago.
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