Mâcon > Belleville-en-Beaujolais 140km

With 2913m of climbing, this is the hardest stage of the whole race. You can see where the elevation gain comes, the opening 75km contains six classified climbs. The ITT has blown the race wide apart; it was a disastrous day for Ferrand-Prévot and brilliant day for Reusser. The race is now set up to explode over the next 2 days.