After welcoming a Tour finish the day before the excitement continues with a start in Colmar. At least the riders will have a very short transfer to the start today.
Colmar, the wine capital of Alsace, will be the last chance for the sprinters to shine before they reach the finish in Paris. On today’s stage everyone will be thinking about the hard mountains that follow but Besancon has a history of important sprint victories. Van Poppel in 1988, Olaf Ludwig in 1990, and Jerome Blijlevens in 1996 have all put their name into the history books with their Tour wins here.
Besancon more recently laid the grounds towards Lance Armstrong’s sixth Tour victory when he won the 2004 time trial around the city. Armstrong completed the 55km course over a minute in front of his nearest competitors, on stage 19, securing any threat to his lead.
The rider’s will not finish in Besancon so close to Paris as in 2004 but it does take us one day closer to who will be the eventual winner.
