Stage 8:
Date: Sunday, August 18, 2024
Streaming: 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 Discovery+/Eurosport; 🇺🇸 Peacock; 🇦🇺 SBS; 🇨🇦 FloBikes
Start time: 14:00 CET
Estimated finish time: 16:38 CET
Stage type: Mountains
Summary: The final stage is by far the hardest and with the general classification still too close to call and nothing to hold onto, it will be an all-out battle for yellow.
The Tour saved the best for last with this final stage. With almost 4,000 meters of elevation gain, two HC climbs (and one Cat 2), and the famous Alpe d’Huez to finish it off, it’s the stage to watch. Especially because the general classification is still all to play for – Kasia Niewiadoma may be leading the race, but the defending champion Demi Vollering is hot on her heels and looking fresh despite crashing in stage 5.
Already the Cat 2 tops out 27.2 km into the stage, with some descending before it. After 9.5 km of climbing at 4%, the peloton has almost 40 km of flat for any breakaways to go. At 78 km the road pitches upward for the first HC of the day: Col du Glandon. The 19.7 km long climb averages 7.2% and is, on paper, even harder than the climb that will finish the stage. Race favourite Évita Muzic said before the Tour that this first HC climb is the tougher of the two, so even if the winning move doesn’t go (and there’s still a lot of racing left afterwards) the peloton will shatter on the ascent, and the GC riders might be left isolated and without teammates.
The Col du Glandon is constantly changing in gradient, with the steepest bits reaching 20% or more. The final 3 km of the climb is mostly over 10%… ouch.
Alpe d’Huez will determine the race. There are multiple ways to go up the climb, but the women will be sent up the most challenging roads, 13.7 km averaging 8% with sectors of 12%. The climb is great for Vollering, who will love the length of the ascent. It will give her plenty of time to try to break her rival Niewiadoma. But there are a handful of other climbers who will be salivating looking at this stage, especially Muzic and Juliette Labous. Both are within striking distance of the podium, both are French, and a result here would mean everything to them.
My pick: With the way she climbs and the way she was looking on stage 7, it’s hard to look past Vollering even if my heart wants Muzic to win the stage and Niewiadoma to win the overall.
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