Starting in Troyes and traveling primarily south/southeast towards the finish in Nuits-Saint-Georges, Stage 7 is another flat course that should again favor the remaining sprinters. There is a single Cat 4 climb up the Cote d'Urcy, but this will do little to breakup the peloton and with a long non technical straight run into the finish, teams with strong lead outs will be favored.
| Stage Type | |
|---|---|
| Stage Distance | 213.42 km |
| Estimated Time | 04:54:23 |
| Avg. Peloton Speed | 43.5 km/h |
| Avg. Pulling Power | 342.96 watts |
| Avg. Pulling Yaw | 4.14 ° |
It's another hot one with temperatures over 30 Celsius for the entire course. The wind is not forecasted to be overly strong but with wide open exposure if it picks up it could be interesting in the cross wind sections. Currently it looks like riders will get cross/tail winds for much of the course which could be interesting for breaks trying to get some bigger time gaps. As the course turns towards Nuits-Saint-Georges the wind will be more head on for the finish.
More early breaks will probably form in the cross wind sections to scoop up some points and TV exposure. If it's a small group there won't be much of a chance to stay away but if there is a larger group things could get interesting. With the flat finish teams without a sprint win will be wanting a victory before heading to the mountains for the weekend. Kittel has shown he is the one to beat and this is another finish that favors his power and acceleration.
Analysis was performed by modeling the peloton as a single rider using front of the pack drag characteristics and pulling power targets. Take a look at the entire race plan that was used for this analysis, which includes additional features, metrics and downloadable files.
Stage 7 Race Plan: https://www.bestbikesplit.com/client/71655