Favorites climbing time trial stage 13 Tour de France 2025 | James Bond setting, but will it be a thriller?

A climbing time trial, then. Although the time trial in Combloux in 2023 was also tough, it couldn't really be called a climbing time trial. The last one was in 2020: that was the day Tadej Pogacar won his first Tour thanks to a superhuman performance on La Planche des Belles Filles. On Friday, riders will set off from Loudienvielle on a shorter but equally grueling test.

The 10.9-kilometer time trial will start in the French village close to the French-Spanish border. After a short stretch along Lac de Génos-Loudienvielle in a northerly direction, the climb towards Peyragudes will begin. Not long after that point, the first intermediate time will be measured (4 kilometers after the start), after which a sharp right turn will take the riders into the mountains.

From then on, it gets really tough. There is a fairly long straight section, where the gradients rarely drop below 8 percent. After a few hairpin bends, the riders reach Loudiervielle, not to be confused with Loudienvielle, where the climbing time trial starts. After that village follows the second intermediate point: at that point, 7.6 kilometers have been covered and approximately 4 kilometers climbed. It will already be causing considerable suffering, but the steepest sections are yet to come.

The gradients drop briefly to 6%, but immediately climb viciously again. In the final kilometer, the riders make a right turn towards the last climb - if they had continued straight ahead, they would have reached the Col de Peyresourde. That mountain will not be tackled until Saturday: the finish in Peyragudes will probably hit harder.

The last few meters will be particularly steep, as they are once again on the now-famous airport, where the gradient rises to 16% and where the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies was partly filmed in 1997. In 2022, Pogacar and Vingegaard fought a fierce battle, with the Slovenian taking the victory, while Vingegaard ultimately won the Tour.

It doesn't often get windy in the Pyrenees, and that is unlikely to change on Friday. At 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, the temperature will also be slightly more pleasant than on previous days, at least for a climbing time trial.

After what we saw on Thursday towards Hautacam, there is no doubt about who the best climber in this Tour de France is. Tadej Pogacar, one day after crashing in Toulouse, delivered a powerful blow and can capitalize on that momentum on Friday in the climbing time trial towards Peyragudes.

His closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, kept up with him excellently until the first uphill power struggle, but was defeated on Hautacam. The entire Visma | Lease a Bike team failed to make an impact, which must have left the Dutch team with a bitter taste in their mouths. Matteo Jorgenson was also knocked out of the GC. Was it a one-off setback, and will they be able to compete again on Friday?

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Behind the winners of the last five editions of the Tour de France, a few youngsters showed their potential. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) have been on form throughout the Tour and are now aiming for a top-five finish in the GC.

Before the race, the main contenders for that position were Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who, with their time trial skills and experience, could well be in a position to strike back in this climbing time trial. Both men performed well on Thursday, but they did not seem to be in top form.

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We will also be keeping an eye on riders such as Felix Gall and local hero Bruno Armirail, who rode in the breakaway for a long time on Thursday on behalf of Decathlon AG2R. Someone like Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) is also still in contention for a good final result on behalf of a French team and is usually good at time trials.

Other than that, it's anyone's guess who will give it their all. There are still a lot of good climbers and time trialists at the start of this Tour, but who is willing to push themselves to the limit for a top ten finish tomorrow?

Top favorite: Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Outsiders: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)