*Tour de France - Stage 11* Wednesday 15th July

Stage 11  »  Pau  ›  Cauterets   (188k)

This is a serious amount of climbing today, with the famous Tourmalet climb providing the Souvenir Jacques Goddet. It is conceivable however  that there won't be time gaps between the major competitors as the final climb is the Cat 3 Cauterets.

In many ways this is similar to Stage 18 of last year's tour, starting as it does in Pau and including a climb of the legendary Tourmalet. However, last year the stage won by Nibali was only 145km and this year it is 188km. Last year the route went through Nay and Ossun on the way to the Cote du Loucrup, whereas this year they go through Lourdes. Last year the Tourmalet was the first of the two big climbs on the route for the day with the Hautacam as a summit finish, this time it is the second as we take the Cat 1 Col d'Aspin on the way there before descending to Sainte-Marie-de Campan, where the Tourmalet starts.

The riders will head South and then primarily East out of Pau. There are 6 categorised climbs in all on this 188km route, but the first half of the route is fairly flat, only containing the Cote du Loucrup (Cat 3 - 2km @ 7%) the Cote de Bagneres-de-Bigorre (Cat 4 - 1.6km @ 6.1%) and the Cote de Mauvezin (Cat 3 - 2km @ 6%). After the Mauvezin the riders will turn directly South until they reach the town of Arreau at 105km into the stage. Here they will turn and travel primarily North and West and this is where the nature of the stage changes and the real climbing starts with the Cat 1 Col d'Aspin.

The Col d'Aspin is a famous old Pyrenean climb. This will be the Col d'Aspin's 72nd appearance in the Tour, and 9th since 2000, which is down more to its location between the Tourmalet and the Peyresourde than the difficulty of the climb. That is not to underestimate this climb. They take it from the harder eastern side, and at 12km @ 6.5% and with 779m of vertical gain it will soften the legs of any rider, especially as the hardest stretch is near the top. But compared to some of its neighbours this is not a hard climb, especially with what comes next. The descent is not too bad from the Col d'Aspin, but there will be little respite for tired riders as they will soon get to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan and the start of the Tourmalet climb.

The Tourmalet is 17.1km @7.3%. It is a very difficult climb. The Tourmalet wil be making its 84th appearance in the Tour, and its 10th since 2000. It is the most commonly used mountain pass. The Tourmalet is also the highest paved mountain pass in the French Pyrenees. The first few km start fairly easily, before the gradients get far harder soon after the town of Gripp. The last 11km of this climb are all at 8% or above, but the steepest slopes are at 12%. There is vertical gain of 1,268m on this climb and it tops out at 2115m. The descent can sometimes prove as decisive as the climb. We will see the riders take the same very technical descent on that Valverde attacked on last year and split the bunch to pieces. This descent is horrendous and terrifying in bad weather (I speak from personal experience). This time any attack on the descent could stick because after the descent the riders only face the Cat 3 Cauterets, rather than the HC Hautacam.

After the descent of the Tourmalet the riders have 10km to go. The stage actually finishes after the Cote de Cauterets (6.4km @ 5%), and both the Cauterets and the following 3.5km can be classified as irregular climbs, with flats followed by steeper ramps. The last time the Tour finished in Cauterets was in 1995 when stage 15 was won by Richard Virenque although the stage will always be remembered as the day Fabio Casartelli died after a crash on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet.

If we have wet conditions this could be won by an attacking descender on the Tourmalet, such as Nibali, Valverde or Bardet. If it stays together until the Cauterets then it could suit someone who thrives on a climb with irregular and constantly changing gradients like Alberto Contador.