Teuns Conquers Final Brutal Climb!

Belgian Dylan Teuns outlasted Italian Giulio Ciccone on the 24% grade over the final 100 m in today's Stage 6.  I sat in my air-conditioned office watching the stage this morning.  Never more accomplished on a bicycle than a few leisurely 20-km rides, I was in awe watching the world's best do what only a tiny fraction of the world's population could do.  Check out Teuns crossing the finish line as the gradient "softened" to 21% (click on image for a larger view).

You can see Ciccone about to come in second.  He'll take it because Julian Alaphilippe struggled mightily over the last few meters and barely crossed the finish line in sixth place.  That cost Alaphilippe the yellow jersey; he's 6 seconds behind in second place.  We'll see Giulio Ciccone in yellow tomorrow.  Check out Teuns's winning time and how it compares with our prediction.

• Stage 06:  4h 29' 03" (actual), 4h 24' 40" (prediction), 04' 23" fast (-1.63% error)

I'm ecstatic that our model did so well today!  We would have had to trim less than 1% off our model cyclist's power output to exactly match the winning time.  Below is Teuns's average speed.

• Stage 06:  9.94 m/s (35.79 kph or 22.24 mph)

That average speed is a typical sprinter's speed in a 100-m dash.  Going up the final climb, cyclists could only manage a third of that speed.

Tomorrow's 203-km (143-mi) flat stage is the race's longest.  Cyclists begin in Belfort, which is very near the border with Switzerland.  They'll travel southwest to the commune of Chalon-sur-Saône.  Our prediction is given below.

• Stage 07:  5h 21' 48" (prediction)

It would be great to see our prediction come in under 2% again!