Short but very tough; that’s how stage 19 of this Tour de France looks like. In 138 kilometers, the riders will do more than 60 kilometers of climbing. For the non-climbers in the peloton like Marcel Sieberg it will be a tremendously hard day.

“If I'm afraid? Certainly," he said. "Today’s and tomorrow’s stages are short but very difficult. It’s not going to be easy to arrive within the time limit. And I want to make it to the finish line in Paris.

"This stage starts immediately with a climb, so the less good climbers will be dropped. There is a flatter part of about 40 kilometres after the first mountain. That’s the part where we’ll have to limit the damage. Normally, the ‘grupetto’ aims to lose one minute per kilometre of climbing. But if we’ll do that today, we’re going to finish outside the time limit. I hope that we’re able to form a big group so that we can give full gas in the descents and in the flat parts. It’s impossible to do that on your own or in a small group.”