Tour de France 2009: Stage 17 preview

• Friday, 26 June 2009
• Andrew McGrath
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Tour de France 2009, stage 17 preview logo

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When Wednesday July 22
Where Bourg-Saint-Maurice – Le Grand-Bornand
How far 169.5km

IMPACT ON CLASSIFICATIONS
Yellow Jersey 4/5
Green Jersey 1/5
Polka-Dot Jersey 5/5

STAGE DESCRIPTION
This has all the makings of an attritional day’s racing in the Alps, with four first-categorised climbs on offer. On the sawblade profile, the Col de la Colombière will be the key ascent, coming fifteen kilometres from the finish in Le Grand-Bornand. Though the stage’s sting is neutralised somewhat by another downhill finish, yellow jersey favourites will have to be both strong and vigilant. The Tour may not be won today, but it can certainly be lost – a jour sans would be disastrous on a climb-packed stage such as this.

STAGE FACTS

• In recent years. Linus Gerdemann (2007) and Lance Armstrong (2004) have both won here. In 2007, the Colombière was also used as the last climb before the finish, and Gerdemann used it to get rid of his last remaining breakaway rivals.
• The first-category status of the Colombière belies its difficulty – it is 7.5 kilometres at an average gradient of 8.5%.
• The first-category Col de Romme have never been used in the Tour before.
• With a total of 55.8 kilometres of categorised climbing spread over five climbs, this is the stage with the most kilometres of climbing in the 2009 Tour.