Tour de France 2024 - Stage 6: Macon - Dijon | 163.5 kilometres
The sixth stage is once again sprinter's territory. You can't say that the fast men don't get enough opportunity to compete in the race. A total of eight stages have a layout that favours sprinters. What's missing this year from a sprinter's point of view is a conciliatory finish after the slog in the mountains. The last five days are unlikely to be to the liking of sprinters. On the last day there is a time trial instead of the usual sprinters' lap of the Champs Elysees.
But back to the sixth stage. The approach is just as easy as the day before. A roundabout 600 metres before the finish line is the biggest challenge, then it's dead straight and seven metres wide to the finish line.
Breakaways can potentially use the fourth category climb, which is already 10 kilometres into the profile, as a launch pad for a breakaway. But it's a long way to Dijon.
One thing is clear: if you want to take flight, you need to be equipped to ride quickly and efficiently for a long time. We have already discussed the main ingredient for this in detail: there is no way around good aerodynamics. There is no other way to achieve an average speed of 43-47 km/h - the range the organisers expect.
This means that runaways and sprinters have the same issue in front of them. Both need to be as aerodynamic as possible. Some need to be able to ride quite fast for several hours, others need to be able to ride really fast for just under ten seconds.
Rough stuff for more speed
There's no real choice of wheels. There is one type of aero wheel that is set for both. But there is a difference with the racing suits. Because these can be customised - both for the rider and for the targeted speed range.
The background to this is that the rider himself causes the lion's share of the air resistance. The wind tunnel data we publish for the bikes always includes the dummy rider's legs. Added to this is the upper body, which we take into account in the simulations. The rider accounts for at least two thirds of the total drag. Arms and legs are approximately cylinders and therefore aerodynamically very unfavourably shaped bodies. However, aerodynamic drag can be reduced by means of clothing. For this purpose, the fabric is even artificially roughened in places - easily recognisable on the upper arms of racing suits, which are often adorned with a fine rib profile.
The optimum roughness to reduce drag depends on the diameter of the object and the speed. Rule of thumb: the thinner and the slower, the more roughness is required to tame the air. A runaway with thin arms therefore needs a different fabric than a beefy sprinter who is also travelling 20 km/h faster. The surface must be smoother on the thighs than on the arms.
As a result, breakaway riders and sprinters basically need different aero outfits in order to be optimally equipped. Continental also uses targeted roughness to reduce the air resistance of its new Aero 111 aero tyre, which is making its debut at the Tour de France. TOUR has already tested the tyre.
One rider who has successfully thought about all the aero details is Mark Cavendish. The Briton had new aero tricks up his sleeve at the start of the third stage. There were aero bottles in his racing bike, he wore structured cuffs over the centre part of his shoes and, of course, structured aero socks, half-calf length, as required by the regulations. There was also a new aero suit. On the fifth stage, Cavendish achieved his historic 35th stage win with this obsession with detail and is now the Tour's most successful rider in terms of stage wins.
Number of the day: 6:36 minutes
Today's simulation shows what a huge difference good equipment makes in a long breakaway. A breakaway on the fastest bike saves 6:36 minutes compared to the slowest from our list if he breaks away right at the start of the sixth stage and rides 160 kilometres from the front.
The (almost) entire field at a glance*
*) 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.
The ranking shows that the fastest escape bikes are those with a particularly aerodynamic shape.
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.
