Stage 4: Pinerolo to Valloire – 139.6 km
Date: Tuesday July 2, 2024
Streaming: 🇺🇸 Peacock/🇨🇦 FloBikes/🇬🇧 Discovery+/ITV/🇪🇺 Eurosport/🇦🇺 SBS
Estimated finish time: 🇺🇸🇨🇦 11:20 am EDT/🇬🇧 4:20 pm BST/🇪🇺 5:20 pm CEST/🇦🇺 1:20 am AEST
Stage type: Mountains
Summary: Yes, you are reading the profile correctly: that’s the Col du Galibier just four stages into the Tour. It’s the second highest point of the 2024 race, and the long slog to the top will help bring the GC riders to the fore at a refreshingly early stage in the Tour.
The Galibier is not an especially steep mountain from the side the Tour climbs it this year, but it’s a real slog to the top, and then there’s a long downhill to the finish. Diesel climbers who don’t mind the altitude and strong descenders will like their chances.
Fantasy favorites: The hard-but-not-especially-brutal gradient of the final climb and the ensuing descent to the finish make this a pretty tricky stage to predict. Tadej Pogačar is the stage favorite, but can he get clear on the Galibier and hold on through the long run to the line? Jonas Vingegaard is the other obvious rider to watch on the hors categorie climb, with Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič also likely to contend, but if those climbing aces can’t get any separation going up, we could see the likes of Tom Pidcock or even Wout van Aert try something going down. Alternatively, maybe a long-range attacker fights for the win. Lenny Martinez and Tobias Halland Johannessen are worth watching from the break.
Did we do a good job with this story?