Andorra la Vella (DPA) – The peloton of the 108th Tour de France does not follow in Jan Ulrich’s footsteps in the affair of Andorra.
Whereas in 1997 the only German Tour winner wore the yellow jersey at Andorra-Arkalis, the 15th leg of today’s Tour ends with the 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: Other than front runner Pogakar, this tour’s usual outliers would dare the next attempt at a stage win and 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: 210710-99-335008/3
