The second stage of the Tour de France, Sunday between Cesenatico and Bologna (199 km), offers the first big wall of this 111th edition with the formidable San Luca hill that the peloton will climb twice in an explosive finale.
Two kilometers at an average gradient of 10.6%, with passages at almost 20%: the famous climb along monumental arcades leading to the Basilica of San Luca promises to be one of the highlights of the first week of the Tour .
Most riders know this wall which is regularly on the program of the Tour d’Emilia and the Giro where Primoz Roglic ravaged the competition during the prologue in 2019. “San Luca is really the typical puncher’s hill and the guys who are going to play the general cannot ignore this kind of stage. Especially since we put bonuses at the top during the second passage (eight , five and two seconds to the first three). I really see the scenario of a big fight.”explains the Tour’s designer, Thierry Gouvenou, who sees Tadej Pogacar “feast on a wall like that”.
“Each time we climbed a hill like that, we got a good overview of the general state of the peloton. If you start to break down here it’s not a good sign for the future”adds the technical director of the Tour. To “highlight” San Luca, the wall will be used twice.
After the second summit pass, there are 12 kilometres left until the finish, with a final small climb and finally a technical descent to Bologna. Before San Luca, the stage will pass, shortly before the halfway point, the Gallisterna climb (1.2 km at 12.8%), where Julian Alaphilippe attacked in 2020 to win the first of his two world championship titles on the Imola circuit which will also be on the menu on Sunday.
