Though labeled a flat stage, this is likely to be a hot, tiring day in the saddle on mostly back roads between Narbonne and Nîmes (population 146,000). Both of these 2,000-year-old Roman cities sit on the coastal pain of the Mediterranean, but the route between them loops through the foothills of the Massif Central with three Cat. 4 climbs. As on the previous stage, the final 25km is on wider roads, this time heading to a 1.1km-long finish straight in downtown Nîmes.