- Sep 20, 2017
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Stage 14: Pau – Luchon Superbagnères (182.6k)
The final act of the Pyrenean bloc links a very familiar face with a long-lost one.Map and profile
Start
I guess I should congratulate Pau: with this stage start, it officially draws level with Bordeaux as the second-most common Tour stage host, at 76 editions. In fact, since its debut in 1930, it has been absent just twelve times. For obvious reasons I have long since had enough of talking about the city, but here goes.
The history of Pau is a short one by European standards. A small keep and a village existed at the site since the 10th or 11th century, but the town remained very small until the Viscounts of Béarn moved their capital here in 1464. Béarn was small, straddling the western third of the French Pyrenees, but almost uniquely in what is now France officially independent. In 1479, it was united with the Kingdom of Navarre (or Navarra, on the other side of the Pyrenees) after the last king of Navarre died with no heirs but his daughter, who had married into the ruling viscount family. By this time, the viscounts had also started to intermarry with the French ruling dynasty (the House of Valois) in a bid to preserve their independence, which contributed to the Spanish decision to invade the kingdom. The Iberian part of the kingdom, including the royal seat of Pamplona, was therefore lost in 1512. Pau was therefore made the new capital, and its castle was reconstructed to serve as the royal palace.
Intermarriage with the House of Valois continued, and following a number of deaths King Henry of Navarre found himself the legal heir to the French throne. This was incredibly controversial, because Henry was a Protestant – in fact, it was his marriage to a French princess that triggered the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, in which tens of thousands of Protestants were slaughtered. As discussed previously, the Spanish kings were rabidly anti-Protestant at this time and therefore supported their own Henry, the duke of Guise (the possible instigator of the Massacre). The duke of Guise then successfully pressured the reigning Henry III into signing a new law that banned Protestants from inheriting the throne. And thus began the War of the Three Henrys. The other two Henrys soon fell out with each other, and both were assassinated by each other’s supporters in 1588 and 1588. And so, the famous House of Bourbon was established, with their formal title remaining the King of France and Navarre until the French Revolution. Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV, ended the worst of the resistance to his leadership by publicly converting to Catholicism (this spawned the famous, but sadly apocryphal quote "Paris is well worth a mass"). However, he did end the ban on Protestantism (which would later be reestablished), which would lead to his own assassination at the hands of a radical Catholic.
Pau was thus no longer a royal seat, and its then-status as a Protestant city did not curry much favour with the staunchly Catholic successors of Henry IV. In fact, when personal union between France and Navarre gave way to formal annexation in 1620, Protestant rights were suppressed. Thus, its brief glory days were over, and the city went into decline. Then, rather oddly, it became the birthplace of another European dynasty. In 1760, Jean Bernadotte was born into a bourgeouis family in the city. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he rose to become one of the most important generals in the French army. Then, to the surprise of everyone, including himself, he was approached to become the crown prince of neutral Sweden, whose king was heirless and ageing. After the old king was incapacitated by a stroke in 1812, Jean, now assuming the name Charles, took full control of the administration, and immediately turned on Napoleonic France after French troops invaded Sweden’s holdings in Germany, forming the Sixth Coalition. Because of this, he was allowed to keep his title after Napoleon’s fall, and his heirs sit the Swedish throne until this day.
While Bernadotte was enjoying his remarkable rise to kingship, Pau itself also experienced a glow-up in the post-Napoleonic era, developing into one of the favourite tourist destinations for the European elite. It also served as the centre of the French air force for some time. This second golden age came to an end with the outbreak of World War I, and it did not regain its status in the interwar period. However, after the Second World War, a gas field was discovered nearby, leading to an economic boom in the Béarn in general. Although that field was exhausted by the start of this century, the energy research sector survives and the opening of a university and .the resurgence of both its aeronautics industry and tourism give it a firm footing. It is also a sporting city, as evidenced not just by its status in the Tour but also by its long-standing Grand Prix, part of the Formula One in the past.
(picture by Flo641 at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
For the second day in a row, we have a stage that I don’t think ASO have handled very well. Yes, it’s pretty exciting that Superbagnères returns after all these years, but a big part of the reason why people wanted it back is that since its last appearance, Port de Balès has been paved and the two climbs chain together perfectly. Instead, we are coming from the easy side of Peyresourde, which is not just an uninteresting climb, but is also for the most part a repeat climb from the previous day’s MTT.
And speaking of ASO being uninspired: the first 112.9 kilometres of this stage – so the long flat section, the climb and descent of Tourmalet, and the uphill drag between there and the official start of Aspin – are a carbon copy of last year’s stage to Pla d’Adet, right down to the intermediate sprint in Esquièze-Sère. So I’ll spare you me poking fun at Lourdes a second time and just post the map and profile of the sprint.
Immediately after the sprint, it’s time for ASO’s long-standing favourite, the most-climbed ascent of not just the Tour but Grand Tours in general, Col du Tourmalet.
This is followed by Col d’Aspin, from the easy side. At 5.9k to go on the profile below, we finally diverge from the 2024 route.
After this, there is no Azet, no long-overdue introduction of Lançon, but rather the valley road back to the bottom of the Peyresourde. The section from 7.2k to 2.6k was also used in the MTT.
Finish
The favourite descent of Chris Froome takes the riders into Bagnères-de-Luchon, where for the first time since 1989, they neither finish nor head north or east towards other cols, but instead turn south for the Superbagnères MTF. Although admittedly the easiest of the five big MTFs this year, this is still a very good climb.
Superbagnères is a small ski station above the better-known spa resort town and Tour de France stalwart host Bagnères-de-Luchon. The station was already established in 1912, prior to the advent of skiing, and the grand hotel still dominates the summit. It has hosted the race on six previous occasions, most famously in the famous 1986 Tour when Bernard Hinault cracked on the MTF and surrendered almost all of his five-minute GC lead he had held over Greg LeMond going into the stage. The stage has been made possible by the replacement of the old gondola from Bagnères-de-Luchon with a new, higher-capacity model in 2023, as increased logistical requirements had rendered the MTF impossible without it due to the limited space at the summit.
The summit, with the grand hotel on the right (picture by Nataloche at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
It should be all about the MTF. This is also a comparatively good opportunity for the break to take a mountain stage, but as we all know you need a huge gap in this era…
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