I had some unfinished business...
Tour touristique de france, stage 17: Lourdes - Saint-Jean Pied de Port (190km)
The third consecutive pyrenee stage will start in every catholic granny's favourite holiday spot: Lourdes.
Since it doesn't finish on a mountain top, the current peloton wil probably view this as a second chance for climbers who didn't live up to expectation. If raced properly, however, this stage can create havoc on the peloton and forms a last chance for the lightweight climbers to distance the heavyweight timetriallers.
A rolling start with some minor hills will be a good warmup for the last HC climb of this tour: the col de Soudet via the small town of Arette. A narrow descent leads us to the town of Larrau, where the 2nd category côte de Larrau awaits the peloton. A short descent brings the peloton to the 3rd climb of the day: the col Bagargui, one of those seldom used French basque climbs, and a typical climb for the region: not too long, steep and a narrow road.
Passing the col de Burdincurutcheta and the little village of Lecumberry, the final two climbs of this edition of the tour will leave a deep impression of those who made it to this point.
Neither long or high altitude, these climbs are surely steeper than we're used to see in the tour and as such resemble more the climbs the giro likes to use when crossing the Apennines.
The finish in the small town of Saint-Jean Pied the port doesn't add anything special to this stage, but hopefully the fireworks on the road made up for it.
Tour touristique de france, stage 17: Lourdes - Saint-Jean Pied de Port (190km)
The third consecutive pyrenee stage will start in every catholic granny's favourite holiday spot: Lourdes.
Since it doesn't finish on a mountain top, the current peloton wil probably view this as a second chance for climbers who didn't live up to expectation. If raced properly, however, this stage can create havoc on the peloton and forms a last chance for the lightweight climbers to distance the heavyweight timetriallers.
A rolling start with some minor hills will be a good warmup for the last HC climb of this tour: the col de Soudet via the small town of Arette. A narrow descent leads us to the town of Larrau, where the 2nd category côte de Larrau awaits the peloton. A short descent brings the peloton to the 3rd climb of the day: the col Bagargui, one of those seldom used French basque climbs, and a typical climb for the region: not too long, steep and a narrow road.
Passing the col de Burdincurutcheta and the little village of Lecumberry, the final two climbs of this edition of the tour will leave a deep impression of those who made it to this point.
Neither long or high altitude, these climbs are surely steeper than we're used to see in the tour and as such resemble more the climbs the giro likes to use when crossing the Apennines.
The finish in the small town of Saint-Jean Pied the port doesn't add anything special to this stage, but hopefully the fireworks on the road made up for it.