The 13th stage of the Tour de France returns to the plain on Friday, to the great relief of the sprinters, between Le Bourg d’Oisans and Saint-Etienne on a course of 192.6 kilometers.
At the exit of the Alps, the race avoids most of the relief with the notable exception of the Col de Parménie, an obstacle classified in the second category (5.1 km at 6.6%) which could serve as a springboard for backpackers, at more 110 kilometers from the finish.
The arrival is judged near the cauldron of the Greens, the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, at the end of a straight line of 350 meters.
Saint-Etienne (173,000 inhabitants) welcomes a stage finish for the 27th time since 1950. Three years after the last visit of the Tour and the victory of the Belgian Thomas de Gendt in the old city of the cycle in front of Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe who had ignited the final on an admittedly very different course.
“The sprinters should seize this rare opportunity to shine”, predicts race director Thierry Gouvenou who wanted to soften the course, “for a question of balance between the stages”.
Departure from Bourg d’Oisans at 1:05 p.m. (launched at 1:20 p.m.), arrival in Saint-Etienne around 5:37 p.m. (timetable calculated at an average speed of 45 km/h).
