La Super Planche des Belles Filles Awaits the Tour on Stage 7
Stage 7 - Tomblaine to Super Planche des Belles Filles - 176.3km - Friday, July 8
The first summit finish of the 2022 Tour de France looms at the end of this lumpy, 176.3km stage through the Vosges region of eastern France that culminates in a steep, unpaved ramp of road. With it will likely come the first true signs of who has the legs to challenge for yellow and who doesn’t.
The climbing all comes in the second half, starting with a long, false-flat section into the Category 3 Col de Grosse Pierre. Neither it nor the other mid-stage climb on the route—also a Category 3—will trouble the riders much, but we might see EF’s Magnus Cort in the breakaway again in an attempt to defend his lead in the KoM competition.
So far, the breakaways this Tour have all been relatively small; Stage 6’s six-rider move was the largest we’ve seen. It’s an open question how many riders will go clear early on Friday, but we’ll likely see interest because the prospects of surviving to the finish are decent. The Planche des Belles Filles climb has featured four times as a stage finish. The “Super” version—which adds about 100 meters of climbing over less than a kilometer of road—debuted in 2019, and was won by Dylan Teuns from the early break. Except for the section right around the finish line, most of this final kilometer is on dirt.
Perhaps because of its profile, the Belles Filles climb tends to result in defensive racing by the GC riders. The addition of the unpaved “Super” extension adds what are by far the steepest portions of the climb, with gradients up to 24 percent, which is where splits will occur. So yellow jersey hopefuls are usually reluctant to attack farther down for fear of blowing up and losing major time. Although no rain is expected, a light northeast breeze (a tailwind for most of the second half of the stage) will be a cross-head on the climb and may further discourage aggressive racing from the overall hopefuls until close to the finish.
Riders to Watch
This could be a day for Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema, a talented, experienced climber who’s targeting stage wins. Astana, which has been nearly invisible so far this race, may try its luck with riders like American Joe Dombrowski. And don’t rule out Wout van Aert joining the break too: with the intermediate sprint at the end of the long false-flat section, van Aert could take it as an opportunity to further pad his lead in the green jersey competition. Other stage win possibilities include Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) who took victory here in 2019, and Arkea-Samsic’s Nairo Quintana, who’s been quietly excellent so far this Tour.
For the overall, all eyes will be on two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) and rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the Ineos trio of Geraint Thomas, Dani Martinez, and Adam Yates. Gaps at the summit tend to be around 30 seconds or so across GC contenders, although usually one or more will lose more significant time. One big question will be how Vingegaard’s teammate and co-leader Primož Roglič fares after separating his shoulder in a crash on Wednesday. He was aggressive on Stage 6 but a longer, steeper finish is a different kind of challenge.
When to Watch
Almost all the major action here will come on the final climb. If your livestream is up and running by 10:30 a.m ET, you’ll see the full approach and all the action that unfolds on the slopes of the Super Planche.
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