Tour de France 2023 - 17th stage: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc - Courchevel | 165.7 kilometres
The roof of the 2023 Tour de France is coming up and therefore possibly the day of decision. At the end of the very mountainous stage, the Col de la Loze awaits the riders - 2304 metres high, 28 kilometres long (average gradient 6 percent).
The climb is divided into three sections. The first 14 kilometres are not particularly steep, with a gradient of 8.7 percent at the top. In the middle section, the mountain flattens out briefly and there are even a few metres of downhill. The second half of the climb is steeper, but the last five kilometres are particularly tough. Over two kilometres, the average gradient is 10.9 per cent, briefly reaching 24 per cent at the top. Will the duelists Pogacar and Vingegaard attack each other here?
Downhill race plus uphill sprint
The finish, however, is not at the summit. A six-kilometre descent follows, interrupted by a short intermediate climb, before an extremely steep (18%) ascent of around 300 metres to the Courchevel airfield at the end. If the race leaders come wheel-to-wheel over the Col de la Loze, as they have done so often before, the stage will end with a combination of a downhill race and an uphill sprint for the overall classification. Who has the better material at the start for the scenarios that are emerging?
Jonas Vingegaard will certainly choose the Cervelo R5 again, his mountain bike, which is presumably somewhat lighter than Tadej Pocacar's Colnago V4Rs (weighed by TOUR on site: 7.42 kg). Unlike Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar has always opted for higher (and faster) wheels, even in the high mountains. This gives Pogacar an aerodynamic advantage, even if the Colnago frame is not particularly aerodynamic. Vingegaard's R5 is aerodynamically worse in any case.
Tour de France 2023: What is Vingegaard's strategy on stage 17?
If Pogacar attacks shortly before the Col de la Loze and is able to open a gap, he has a material advantage on the descent. If Vingegaard jumps directly on his wheel, as he did on stage 14 to Morzine, he can neutralise this advantage. On the descent to Morzine, however, he was so close to Pogacar that he slowed down several times and didn't always hit the racing line, which looked risky at times. However, the strategy of sticking to his opponent's wheel worked out in the end for Vingegaard.
Will it be the uphill sprint to Courchevel? Then Vingegaard's setup is faster - between a few hundredths and three tenths of a second. The lower weight has an impact on the extreme incline. The aim for the teams should therefore be to bring the bike down to the minimum permitted weight.
Number of the day: 52 seconds
For the entire final climb of the 17th stage of the Tour de France 2023, the riding time for the leaders is around 1:10 hours. The fastest road bike in our list is 52 seconds faster than the slowest. Overall, aerodynamic differences make more of a difference than minor weight differences. The fastest bike on the final climb is the Giant Propel with a mixture of low weight, close to the UCI weight limit, and good aero performance.
*) The calculations are based on the bikes tested by TOUR in the laboratory and wind tunnel. The bikes at the Tour de France may differ in some details. Of course, we have not yet been able to analyse last-minute prototypes. Background to the simulation.
Our expert
Robert Kühnen studied mechanical engineering, writes about technical and training topics for TOUR and develops test methods. Robert has been refining the simulation calculations for years and they are also used by professional teams.
