Tucked away in the southern French Alps, the ski resort of Orcières-Merlette doesn’t enjoy the renown of fabled summits like Mont Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez, or the Col du Galibier. Nevertheless the eyes of the cycling world will be directed towards it today, with Tadej Pogačar and his Tour de France rivals finishing stage 18 on its category-one slopes.
The personal goals of each rider today will be many and varied, from winning at the top to simply making the time cut. And while you might imagine Pogačar has little left to prove in this year’s Tour de France, he has unfinished business at today’s destination. Last time the race finished here was his Tour debut in 2020, on stage four. The young pretender was beaten to the punch by countryman, rival and old-hand Primož Roglič, riding then for Jumbo-Visma.
Roglič, who was on his way to coming as close as he ever had to winning cycling’s biggest prize two-and-a-half weeks later, sprinted home at the front of a 20-strong elite front group, with Pogačar latching on to finish second – the dynamic riding style we’ve all become so used to already plain to see.
As you might remember, being during Covid-era, that stage took place in September in front of a restrained though still surprisingly big crowd.
Still only 21 then, Pogačar ultimately had the last laugh in that race, taking his debut Tour victory on the penultimate day’s time trial at Planche de Belles Filles. But Pogi likes to win, and at Orcières-Merlettes he has yet to do that. It would be no surprise to see him correct the record today.
The 185.3km stage begins where yesterday left off with a Jasper Philipsen win in Voiron, well to the north-west. From here the peloton makes its way over the numerous climbs that fringe the Alps, starting with the the cat-one Côte d’Engins, which, at 11.5km, 5.4% and topping out at 854 metres, must surely be on the borders of the Côte / Col definition. The riders crest this at just 35km, and it’s followed mid-stage by the Côte Monteyard (cat-two) and the Côte des Terrasses (cat-three), which comes just before the intermediate sprint.
This takes place at the ominously named Corps, and both Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will do all they can to get the points here and boost them at the top of the green jersey classification.
From here the road trends upwards for the next 55km or so, all the way to Orcières-Merlettes, although there is a cat-three to deal with at 166km, the Côte de Saint-Leger-les-Mélèzes. The final climb proper starts at around seven kilometres to go, with a shallower first kilometre segueing to a gradient of around 7% all the way to the line.
