The stage starts in Sant Gaudens at 385 metres altitude.
While the Hors Catergory Plateau de Beille, standing at the finish, waiting to be conquered, ever in the minds of all 170 riders from the start, casts a shadow over the entire stage, the preceeding 152km should not be overlooked. With 5 catergorised climbs before the summit finish, it features the most climbing out of any stage in this years Tour.
It may not at first glance seem as brutal as the Alpe, or Luz Ardiden stages but it has more mountain points on offer than either, only slightly less than stage 18 to Galibier, and its finish is more steep than all 3.
There is no 140km of rolling along waiting for the MTF here. The KOM battle starts from the word go, and with the fatigue in the legs from the previous 3 stages and two rest days coming up, the GC battle will likely start from km0 too.
This is the most important stage for the KOM competition. Stage 18 may have slightly more points on offer, but they come from 3 hc climbs towards the end of the stage, by which point the break might already be hovered up.
On stage 14 however, the climbing comes right from the word go. Those with their eyes on the polka dot jersey, will know that this is the stage where the KOM showdown occurs. Then theres the sprint competition, and with the new rule giving great power to the intermediate sprint, the mailot vert is also at stake.
With the climbs coming thick and fast from the start, and all 3 jerseys in the mix, this has all the makings to be one of the most entertaining Tour stages in a long long time.
First on offer is the Col de Porte-d Aspet just 26km into the stage. After the Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden and Aubisque, the peloton will be forgiven for seeing this catergory 2 hill as relatively harmless obstacle. This would be a massive mistake. The Aspet has the steepest average gradient the Tour de France has seen in a while. While its 4.2 k in length doesn’t offer the same challenge as the hc mountains, with an average gradient of 9.7% over that period, it is the only climb in the Tour which comes even close to reaching a double figure average.
The role the Aspet would usually play in a stage like this would be to tire out the GC contenders, and to bring the best of the KOM contenders to the fore, and it will no doubt contribute to both these competitions on Saturday. But with the introduction of the new Sprinters jersey points system, and the placement of the intermediate sprint, just 10k after the summit of the Aspet, on its descent, the Aspet could well play a role in all 3 jersey competitions come Saturday.
Mark Cavendish and Joaquim Rojas have absolutely no chance of making it to the intermediate sprint in a front group, but the short and steep Aspet might just suit their Maillot Vert opponent Phillipe Gilbert. With his chief rivals eliminated, and if his eye really is all the green, the triple Ardennes classic winner will no doubt do his best to make it over the climb with a front group and take up the big intermediate sprint points
Barely 40km into the stage and the fight for 2 of the 3 jersey competitions will already be well under way.
The polka dot jersey competition then takes another step up. The second climb in the sage could not be any more different to the first. While the Aspet is short but very steep, the Col de la Core is relatively mild but very long. Its 5.7% while not as harsh as some of the other climbs in the stage is nothing to sneer at, and its distance of 14.1km is enough to grant it Catergory 1 status meaning that there are 10 mountain points available for the rider to cross it first making it key in the polka dot battle.
The KOM angle in this stage is made all the more intriguing by the fact that the fans can have no idea who the protagonists will be. Among the leaders in the KOM competition at the moment are GC guys who will not risk a breakaway, Hoogerland who is heavily injured and Voeckler whose aim was to hold the jersey for as long as possible
After a quick descent into the town of Sex or Seix depending on your source and your sence of humour, for the feeding zone, the KOM battle resumes with the Col de Latrape. This catergory 2 climb may seem difficult enough at 7.2% for 5.6km, but these figures do not do the climb justice.
Unlike most TDF climbs which maintain conistant grades for long periods the Col de Latrape is a wreck that throws insanely high grades at the riders together with mild ones. A pan flat section is coupled with ones of 13 and 14% causing havoc to the riders rythms.
Next comes the Col de Agnes, a category 1 brute which at 8.2% for 10 km only just misses out on Hors Catergory status. In fact while slightly shorter, a good case can be made that the Agnes is in fact harder, due to its very high gradient, than the Hors Catergory Luz Ardiden climb, so steeped into Tour folklore that was given the main event status for the first Pyraneen stage.
With another 10 points on offer, the Agnes is yet another fokal point in the mountain jersey battle, but with the finish approaching, the fight among GC contenders might just begin to take shape here.
With 60km still to go, the Agnes is to far out to tempt any attacks, but its pure steepness, which includes a km at the beginning and end of the climb apiece of over 10%, coupled with its length should be enough to drop several key domestiques, isolate contenders and even perhaps drop a few major contenders as well. In addition to further tiring the riders out, a elite group should begin to form here, preparing the GC battle for the showdown on the Plateau de Beille.
Between the Agnes and the Hors Catergory crescendo lies one final catergorised climb for the remenants of the King of the Mountains breakaway. With 3.8km at 5.5% the catergory 3 Port de Lers is by far the weakest of the climbs on offer on this monster stage but there are 2 kom points for the first rider and any riders able to challenge will do well to remember that these will likely be their last chance for points in this competition for 4 days.
The summit of the Port de Lers 118km from the finish and 50k from the end, brings to an end the King of the mountains competition which will have taken up the majority of the stage. Now the GC battle takes centre stage.
In front of them the final climb of a brutal Pyranneen schedule for 2011. The best has been saved till last. It is the biggest and the baddest climb the 2011 Tour de France has to offer. All eyes now turn to the Plateau de Beile.
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