*Tour de France - Stage 12* Thursday 16th July

Stage 12  »  Lannemezan  ›  Plateau de Beille   (195k)

A last day of Pyreanean climbing before we head East towards the Alps, but what a day this is. We have four categorised climbs on this 195km stage, and they get harder and harder culminating in the monstrous HC Plateau de Beille summit finish. There is a Cat 2 climb, 2 x Cat 1s and then the HC summit finish in what should be a great spectacle and go a long way towards establishing (or confirming) the GC order.

This is the third consecutive day with a lot of climbing and this could see some very big time gaps. The stage starts in the town of Lannemezan, South of Toulouse and East of Tarbes and on the eponymous plain which counts as the source of 18 different rivers. The area has a history of floods and mudslides, but it is unlikely we will see anything like that today. From Lannemezan we move generally East, moving more or less parallel to the Spanish border. The first 40-odd km of this stage are pretty flat, just to lull the riders into a false sense of security, but after 47km they will hit the first slopes of the Cat 2 Col de Portet-d'Aspet. From there on there is hardly a flat piece of road until the end. The Col de Portet-d'Aspet is a Cat 2 climb, infamous for the death of Fabio Casartelli in 1995, who died on the descent after a crash with several other riders when he hit his head on a concrete block at the side of the road.

The Portet d'Aspet is a hard climb, steep but mercifully short at 4.3km @ 9.7%. On this stage though the climbs get bigger and bigger. The Col de Portet d'Aspet should already see a large autobus form, and the pain continues when the riders hit the town of Castillons at 76km and they approach the second climb of the day, the Cat 1 Col de la Core.
Col de la Core is 14.1km @ 5.7%. It starts fairly innocuously, with low gradients, but towards the top there are 8km of climb where the slopes are always 6-8%. There is over 800m of vertical gain on this climb that tops out at just shy of 1400m. The descent is not too technical and following the descent there are some flat kilometres as the riders head towards the third climb of the day, the Cat 1 Port de Lers.

This is quite an irregular climb and it could catch riders out who are not happy with constantly changing gradients. This climb has been used in the Tour four times since the first time in 1995. Most recently it was included in 2012 when Sergio Paulinho won the stage that finished in the nearby Foix. The climb starts in the town of Massat and the early gradients aren't too steep. The slopes then go upto 6-9% for the nex few kms, and there are some short sections upto 12%. About 5km from the summit the gradient eases before another steep section around 8% just before the summit. The Port de Lers is 12.9% @ 6km in total, which is nearly 800m of vertical climb. When they reach the summit there are just under 50km to go in the stage.

The final climb to the ski station of Plateau de Beille is an absolute beast. This climb has featured on the Tour 5 times since 1998, most recently in 2011 when Jelle Vanendert won Stage 14. The hardest gradients on this climb are at the beginning, with steep ramps immediately out of the square in Les Cabannes. The climb is 15.8km @ 7.9% which makes this climb similar to L'alpe d'Huez. The first 12km of this climb will see the riders get cover from the forest, but after that it is open. The roads are primarily smooth for the forst part of the climb too, but they do deteriorate on the higher slopes where there are several switchbacks. This is a very hard climb at the end of a tough stage. Tthere could be very big time gaps and it would be no surprise to see the winner of this stage take the overall race.