cycling: Tour de France Stage #18 Prediction: The Last Chance

Cycling: Tomorrow the climbers in the Tour de France have their last chance to win another stage. Also in relation to the overall standings, some professionals will throw everything into the balance. Who has the best cards in poker for overall and stage victory?

Tour de France 2017: The Col d'Izoard brings the decision

The remaining drivers have to cover 179,5 kilometers from Briançon to Izoard tomorrow. There are a number of obstacles that stand in their way. The first is the Côte des Demoiselles Coiffées (3,9 km at 5,2%), which will only remain a marginal phenomenon. Things get more serious 50 kilometers from the finish when the summit of the Col de Vars (9,3 km at 7,5%) is crossed. This mountain, after all, belongs to the first category. The final ascent even belongs to the highest category. The Col d'Izoard (14,1 km à 7,3%) is known to every cycling connoisseur. The last hard mountain of this year's Tour de France is very steep, especially from the middle. From there there are only a few sections that are less than nine percent uphill. So if you can't manage with your strength until the end, you could experience your yellow miracle on the Col d'Izoard.

Our tip: Chris Froome finally wants to win a stage at the 2017 Tour de France

For Chris Froome (Sky), almost everything is going according to plan so far. He has the strongest team, he has good legs and most importantly he has the yellow jersey. With the time trial in mind, he can take it easy. But the Brit is ambitious. Chris Froome certainly doesn't want to win the Tour de France without a stage win. Of course he can triumph in the time trial, but he certainly has the best chance of success tomorrow. The Col d'Izoard is long and grueling. Froome can play to his strengths perfectly here. Mikel Landa (Sky) will decimate the group of favorites meter by meter. The tempo corresponds exactly to the speed that Chris Froome's on-board computer spits out. At some point, Mikel Landa will lose the lead. Then the boss himself launches his attack. Nobody can follow him and Chris Froome won the Tour de France. Behind him, his challengers are only fighting for the places next to him. An alternate Sky strategy could be Mikel Landa's game of cat and mouse. The Spaniard is extremely well placed in the general classification and can play a decisive role. Since the main sponsor Sky prefers Chris Froome as the tour winner, the Landa card will probably not be played. Behind Froome, Romain Bardet (Ag2r) should win the race for second.

***Chris Froome
** Romain Bardet, Mikel Landa
* Rigoberto Uran, Fabio Aru, Louis Meintjes

Tour de France preview: Those were the Velomotion predictions

The current overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 17 of 21 stages