Andorra la Vella (DPA) – Following in the footsteps of Jan Ulrich, the peloton of the 108th Tour de France follows in the footsteps of Andorra.
While the only German Tour winner in 1997 wore the yellow jersey at Andorra-Arkalis, the 15th leg of the Tour ended this Sunday with a descent down to the capital, Andorra La Vella.
Route: Long, difficult, barely a meter flat. The 191.3 km ride in the short run will push many riders to the limit at the end of the second week of the journey. The first is to conquer three mountains of the category, including the highest point of this year’s Tour at Port d’Envalira at 2408 metres.
Favourites: In addition to front runner Pogakar, this tour’s usual outliers would dare the next attempt at a stage win and also take points for the mountain jersey. These include Canadian mountain jersey wearer Michael Woods, Dutchman Wouter Pauls and Colombian Nairo Quintana.
Yellow shirt: There will be pressure on Pogakar. Rigoberto Uran as third- and fourth-placed Jonas Winggaard both aimed to attack the Slovenian to reduce losses by more than five minutes each. Frenchman Guillaume Martin, who is currently in second place, will be delighted to be in the top 3 at the end of the stage.
German: Actually, the stage would be ideal for Emanuel Buchmann. The climbing specialist is far behind in the overall standings and may try his hand at a runaway group. But Ravensberger hasn’t shown good form on the tour so far, so it will be a surprise to see him up front. Simon Geschke will probably want to seize the chance of an escape group as well.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210710-99-335008/2
