The departure from Dole and the passage to Arbois (Km 29) are dedicated to the scientist (known for having developed a vaccine against rabies) two hundred years after his birth. Then the road climbs into the Jura, to the resort of Les Rousses, and crosses the Franco-Swiss border after the halfway point (Km 113) at Le Brassus.
Victory for the breakaway?
“It is at the finish that we will find the only real difficulty of the day (4.8 km at 4.6%)”, announces race director Thierry Gouvenou. “It starts from Lake Geneva and climbs to the top of Lausanne, at the level of the Olympic stadium”.
The last kilometer includes passages at 12-13%, quite favorable to the punchers of the Tour peloton. But, predicts the race director, “the victory had to go to a breakaway”.
Lausanne (147,000 inhabitants), headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is hosting the Tour for the 6th time in history. Twenty-two years after the last coming during a stage won by the Dutchman Erik Dekker.