Strava stats show how brutal stage 13 of the Tour de France is likely to be 

Stage 13 of the Tour de France 2020 is likely to be an explosive one.

On the road from Châtel-Guyon to Puy Mary, the peloton will have to take on 191km of climbing in the Massif Central mountain range, with seven categorised climbs on the road and 4,400 metres of climbing. 

The climbing starts early on the stage, with the first 10km the only real flat section before the road ramps up in some uncategorised lumps. 

Riders will then hit the first notable climb after just 25km, the first category Col de Ceysatt (10.2km at 6.1 per cent). 

That climb is followed by two slightly easier climbs in quick succession, the Col de Guéry (7.8km at five per cent) and then the Montée de La Stèle (6.8km at 5.7 per cent), which start at 55km and 78km respectively. 

The peloton then get a chance to recover on the long descent from La Stèle, but at the foot of the climb its straight into the sharp end with four climbs in quick succession in the final 60km of the stage. 

First it’s the Côte de l’Estiade (3.7km at 6.9 per cent) which starts at 126km, then after an uncategorised climb it’s onto the Côte d’Anglards-de-Salers (3.5km at 6.9 per cent). 

After that climb comes the most decisive moment of the race - the final two climbs with around 30km left of the stage.

The penultimate climb is the second category Col de Neronne, which is 3.8km-long with a savage 9.1 per cent average gradient.

On Strava, the segment for this climb covers 8.73km with a three per cent average. 

The current fastest rider on Strava is Thibaut Pinot, who crested the climb in 14.56 on stage five of the 2016 Tour de France, when the climb featured in the final 50km. 

That stage, which finished beyond Puy Mary, was won by Greg Van Avermaet from a breakaway. 

Then it’s onto the final climb for the 2020 Tour riders, Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol which is a brutal 5.4km-long climb with an 8.1 per cent average.

It was last included in the Tour in that 2016 edition, which is when Sunweb’s Wilco Kelderman set a new fastest Strava time.  

The Dutchman finished the climb in 14-55, with an average power of 415 watts to hold 22km/h for the duration.  

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But as Puy Mary wasn’t the finishing climb in the 2016 Tour, we can expect some new rapid times up the final climb of stage 13 in the 2020 Tour.