Pau to Pau

Stage 13 / Friday, July 19th

This year's only ITT is a relatively short rolling 27.5 km trip around the oft-visited city of Pau. While it is a short time trial, big time gains can be made or maybe more importantly big time can be lost even with such a short course. High power/cda (aerodynamics) will win the day but GC riders have shown both this year and in past tours that they can perform against the clock when the spotlight is on. The climbers will not want to over exert themselves with two major mountain days looming and having put some effort the day before, but if they don't push to their limit they risk losing time to the higher power GC rivals. To put it in perspective the TT specialists pushing 6 Watts/Kg at around 70 kg like Rohan Dennis stands to gain over a minute against a smaller rider like Egan Bernal at 59 kg assuming equal aerodynamics. In reality there are several other factors but on this course it will favor the high power athletes. This could be the decision point where Team Ineos must decide between Thomas and Bernal. To discover your own insights and try "what if" scenarios check out the Best Bike Split model and use the Time Analysis Tool to vary power, weight and aerodynamics of the rider.