Preview: 2015 Tour de France — Stage 13

Muret to Rodez (198km)

Friday, July 17 | 6:40 a.m. EST – 11:30 a.m. ES

Stage 13 turns its back on the Pyrenees and offers one up for the sprinters, who haven’t had much to get excited about since the start. Will they take advantage of this opportunity? The finish is likely to be a little too tough for some. Rather than finding a finishing straight as flat as a pool table, ASO opted for a hilltop finish, 600 meters in length with a maximum gradient of eight percent. Unlike the finish at Mûr de Bretagne, it’s not enough to create gaps, but it could very well eliminate some of the pure sprinters. Look for the likes of Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), or Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge), to find this finish to their liking.