Stage 16 takes the riders from Switzerland into Italy and then back into France. This small sojourn into Italy is the sole reason Alejandro Valverde is not here, he is banned in Italy (but not anywhere else) so i guess he figured they might pull him off his bike.
anyway....
After having their hearts broken by Alberto Contador the riders took a well earned rest day yesterday, so feeling fresh they will tackle two really big mountains here, first the Col du Grand St Bernard and then the smaller Col du Petit Saint Bernard - the Big Saint Bernard and the Little Saint Bernard - but really it is not that small!
On paper it looks a short stage, just 160km, but it does up, then down, then up then down. No flat stuff - all climbing or descending.
Climbs
This particular pass through the alps has been used for almost 3,000 years. The riders today follow basically the same route over the Saint Bernard that has been used forever. Julius Caesar crossed with an army in 57 BC and famously Napoleon crossed here with 46,000 soldiers in 1800.
The Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard is 24.4 km climb at an average of 6.2 % - a Hors Category climb, just the second of the whole tour and i really dont think there have been enough. The climb summit is just 40km from the start and the riders are actually climbing from the beginning of the stage, really the ascent is just over 40km. Either way this is a monster climb with the last 5kms above 9% gradient and they are climbing from the start of the day!
The Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard is 22.6 km climb averaging 5.1 %, a Category 1 climb, however the map shows that the riders are actually going up for closer to 30kms. Not as steep and not overly difficult for the GC contenders, however what happens on the first climb will influence the second.
You might see some fast tempo climbing by the stronger teams here (Saxo Bank/Astana) to try and drop the domestiques and therefore isolate the threats. Will the peleton let a small breakaway go and just leave Alberto Contador in Yellow, saving themselves for later stages? Will we see some challenges from those further down the classification (Evans, Kirchin, Kreuziger, Karpets, Feilu)? Will saxo bank try and soften up Alberto and his team with a series of attacks on the first climb leaving them possibly vunerable on the second? Or will the non astana riders band together for the greater good and send a flurry of attacks Contadors way? Doubt it but we can live in hope.
Lots of climbing and lots of pain, and that can only be good to watch with excellent roads lined by thousands of half drunk fans and scenery like this shot of a lake near the summit of the big saint Bernard with the Swiss/Italian border crossing and a still operating hospice that was opened by Saint Bernard of Menthon in the 900s!
Noyce!
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