STAGE 15 OF 21Sunday 19 July

Champagnole → Plateau de Solaison

Mountain183.9 KMAlpsSUMMIT FINISH

The last stage before the second rest day climbs from the Jura toward the pre-Alps and finishes up the severe Plateau de Solaison — over 11km averaging 9%, with ramps beyond 12%. A pure climber's summit finish.

KEY CLIMBS

Plateau de Solaison

11.3 km · 9% avg

—

Col de la Croisette

7.6 km · 8.8% avg

—

Col de la Savine

5.9 km · 4.6% avg

THE TACTICAL READ

WHO IT SUITS

The pure climbers. An 11.3km wall averaging 9% with ramps past 12% is as honest a climb as the race offers — nowhere to hide, nowhere to draft.

WHAT TO WATCH

Power-to-weight, undisguised. Expect the favourites to wait for the lower slopes, then trade attacks until the gradient does the selecting for them.

ROADMAN PREDICTION

Real GC gaps before the second rest day. The lightest, best-climbing favourite gains time on a finish that exposes anyone a fraction below their best.

THE ROADMAN TAKE

WHAT THIS STAGE DEMANDS

An 11km climb at 9% is sustained threshold-to-VO2 work — there is nowhere to hide and nowhere to freewheel. Riders who have trained their functional threshold and know their numbers to the watt pace it perfectly; everyone else either blows or leaves time on the road. This is the climb your FTP test was for.

WHAT DAN LORANG WOULD PUSH

Periodisation pointed at a goal climb — build threshold and VO2 in the right blocks so the rider peaks with the exact capacity a 9% wall demands, rather than arriving generally fit but unspecific.

TRAIN FOR IT

The Roadman content that builds what Stage 15 asks for.

Pacing strategy for long climbs→FTP training hub→FTP Zone Calculator→

← STAGE 14

Mulhouse → Le Markstein Fellering

STAGE 16 →

Évian-les-Bains → Thonon-les-Bains

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