Tour de France 2023, Stage 5 (Pau - Laruns), course, route, profile, animation

“Wednesday, 5 July In 2020, a Tour stage again led from Pau to Laruns, and the route is almost the same as then. Again, the Col de Soudet and the Col de Marie Blanque are on the programme. The stage is 163.7 kilometres long and includes more than 3,600 metres of altitude. It is the 66th time that a Tour de France stage has started in Pau. Pau has been the finish 62 times. The first half of the race leads over almost flat terrain to the foot of the Col de Soudet. In 2020, the Col de La Hourcère preceded it, but now the riders cut back to the Soudet in Sainte-Engrâce. So the route climbs for 15.2 kilometres, with an average gradient of 7.2%. The first kilometres are manageable, but after 5 kilometres there are double-digit gradients for a while. Then it flattens out for a while, only to get back into double digits. In the last kilometres, the percentage drops to the 8% mark. After a 20-kilometre descent and a flat section, the riders reach the Col d’Ichère - 4.2 kilometres at 7% - before the final climb of the day, the Col de Marie Blanque. This climb is 7.7 kilometres long and 8.6%. And when you know that the first 3 kilometres only climb by just under 5%, you also know that it gets really tough at the back! The road rises by 10%, 12%, 13% and 10% in the last 4 kilometres. But that doesn’t mean that the best climber immediately wins. There is still some downhill: 9 kilometres to Bielle. And then a very slightly uphill final chord to Laruns. In 2020 it went like this: Halfway through the stage everything was still together, and then Marc Hirschi attacked. He rounded the Col de Soudet with a lead of about five minutes over the peloton. On the last stretch of the Col de Marie Blanque, his advantage dropped to less than 2 minutes, while Tadej Pogacar accelerated further down the mountain. The Swiss eventually reached the summit 20 seconds ahead of Pogacar, who was joined by Primoz Roglic, Mikel Landa and Egan Bernal. In the valley, the four chasers caught up with Hirschi again 2 kilometres before the finish. The attacker of the day opened the sprint himself shortly afterwards, when he saw Pogacar and Roglic approaching him. The day’s victory went to the Swiss, the yellow jersey to Roglic.“ ( & Routes ’n’ Maps ’n’ Flags) Creating cycling stage animations requires a lot of work and computing power. You are welcome to support me with a donation: