A total length of 10.1 km, an average gradient of 8.1%, and a maximum gradient of 10.3%.
As for the Baiye Plateau climb at the finish, it was 15.7 km long, with an average gradient of 7.8% and a maximum gradient of 11.3%.
This made it clear that even though today's first First Category Climb, the Col de Peyresourde, was brutally difficult from the get-go, it was actually the easiest one compared to the climbs that would follow—
After Huang Chong followed the peloton over the first climb and through the intermediate sprint point at the 37-kilometer mark, the host of sprinters who had attacked from the start all dropped back into the main group.
After all, sprinters only had two goals on a stage like this:
First, to grab the intermediate sprint points.
Second, to avoid being eliminated by the time cut so they could continue in the race. As long as they did that, everything was fine.
They couldn't care less about their final finishing time.
