Stage 11 of the 2018 Tour de France is described by the Tour organization as a “brutal” 108.5km mountain stage from Albertville to La Rosière Espace San Bernardo.
Greg Van Avermaet of the BMC Racing Team will start the morning in the yellow jersey, but the day looks to be one for the pure climbers, not a puncheur like Van Avermaet who is more suited to the rollers of Spring Classics.
The riders will be warming up on their trainers even more prior to the start of the stage as the departure from 1992 Winter Olympic city Albertville throws the riders straight up the Montée de Bisanne that has similar gradients as L’Alpe d’Huez. It’s followed by the col du Pré (12.6km at 7.7%), unprecedented at the Tour de France but known by the participants of the Tour de l’Avenir, like Egan Bernal who won the race last year before tackling his first Tour de France.
The exact same stage was featured in the Critérium du Dauphiné this year, with Pello Bilbao surviving a breakaway from the early part of the race. The view from the Cormet de Roselend is probably the most spectacular in the French Alps. The descent to Bourg-Saint-Maurice is a tricky one with a long list of victims in the Tour: Iñaki Gastón in 1992, Johan Bruyneel in 1996, Michael Rogers and Stuart O’Grady in 2007… The final ascent to La Rosière – a ski resort linked to La Thuile in the Italian Valle d’Aosta – is also unprecedented at the Tour de France.
Throughout the village of Montvalezan, it’s one more demanding climb.
The whole race is short and brutal.
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