Friday, 28 June – An individual time trial between Nuits-Saint-Georges and Gevrey-Chambertin is set on the Tour de France’s seventh day of action. The 25,3 kilometres long route takes in an elevation gain of 300 metres.
The 7th stage of the Tour de France is a time trial through the rolling landscape of Burgundy.
The riders face one climb along the way. The Côte de Reulle-Vergy appears 10 kilometres into the race and goes uphill for 1.5 kilometres with an average gradient of 6.5%. The route continues to climb false flat for almost 4 kilometres before a downhill leads to Chambolle-Musigny. The rest of the route is flat.
Climbing Defined by the Number
You’re either going up, down or flat when you’re riding.
For every 100 feet, you go forward, you will also travel vertically for a certain number of feet.
You’ve got your grade if you put a percentage sign after that vertical distance.
For example, suppose you go up two feet as you go forward 100 feet. That’s a 2% grade. Suppose you climb eight feet as you go forward 100 feet. That’s an 8% gradient.
If you want to determine the status of climbs by the numbers, we can look at the classification system used in most professional races. That would mean climbs are classified as 4, 3, 2, 1 (and Hors Categorie or “HC” in the Tour de France.) This determination is made by a combination of length in kilometres and average gradient, with the position of the climb in the route and the degree of road surface being lesser determinants. See below:
- Category 4 – the lowest category, climbs of 200-500 feet (70-150m). Length is usually less than 2 miles (3km)
- Category 3 – climbs of 500-1600 feet (150-500m), between 2 and 3 miles (3km and 4.5km) in length.
- Category 2 – climbs of 1600-2700 feet (500-800m), between 3 and 6 miles (4.5km and 10km) in length.
- Category 1 – climbs of 2700-5000 feet (800-1500m), between 6 and 12 miles (10km and 20km) in length.
- Hors Category (HC) – the hardest climbs of 5000+ feet (1500m+). Usually more than 12 miles (20km) in length
As for gradients, typically, the average gradient has to be above 4% to classify a climb. Hors Category (HC) generally climbs on average of>10% or has an extreme length at a slightly lesser grade.