5 most anticipated stages of the 2018 Tour de France

4. Brest to Mûr-de-Bretagne (Stage 6, 112.2 mi/181 km)

Speaking of shorter but punchy climbs, race organizers planned not one but two passages over the Mûr-de-Bretagne at the end of Stage 6. The entire stage is a Breton masterpiece, taking riders eastward from the windswept Atlantic coast. This is the homeland of Bernard Hinault, a five-time Tour de France winner and the last French winner of the race.

The ride from Brest is the type of stage that will favor sprinters that can get over the sort of hills that are prevalent throughout the spring classics. Over the first 25 miles, the race is relatively flat. Wind will be the greater challenge as riders try to avoid getting divided into echelons. The first categorized climb is the Côte de Plouviry, tapering out just under a mile long and averaging seven percent.

Fifteen miles down the road, cyclists will encounter another categorized climb over the Côte de Roc’h Trévézel. That 1.5-mile climb takes riders to the elevation high point for the stage of 1,115 feet above sea level. Then the riders descend to a series of rolling roads through Breton villages on the way to the Mûr-de-Bretagne.

The first ascent of the Mûr-de-Bretagne commences just after riders cross the 100-mile mark of the day’s route. At 1.2 miles, the first half of the climb features pitches between 9.5 and 10.1 percent. That levels off to between five and six percent over the final half to the summit. Then the riders will descend and go to Saint Mayeux before coming back and climbing the Mûr-de-Bretagne a second time.