The riders will be happy but nervous today. It’s the last day in the Pyrenees but it’s a monstrous short day full of climbing. The race starts in Saint-Gaudens, which is significant for the Tour de France, because 54 years ago it was here where Louision Bobet took the yellow jersey and then went on to win his first Tour. He followed up by winning two more Tours becoming the first rider to win three Tours in a row (1955, 1956, and 1957). Saint-Gaudens is also where Koneshev won in 1999 and Gino Bartoli, two time Tour winner, won in 1950. Both of their wins came on a very different course then what the riders will tackle today.
Heading out from the start city the riders will gradually climb before they hit the bottom of the Col d’ Aspin at km 50. This climb was first used in the Tour in 1910. In 2008 it was the final climb, in Stage 9, where Ricardo Ricco dropped everyone and took the win in Bagnères de Bigorre. It was his second stage win and a few days later he was thrown out of the race for using a banned substance. After a thirteen kilometer descent, from the Col d’ Aspin, the riders will head straight up for 17km to pass over the top of the Tourmalet towards the finish 50km later in Tarbes.
Climbing up the 2115m Tourmalet the last small village that the riders will pass before the top of the climb is La Mongie at 1,885m. Lance Armstrong won the La Mongie mountain top finish in 2002. Then in 2004, before the finish, Armstrong shook hands with Ivan Basso granting Basso the win. There has been only one summit finish at the top of the Tourmalet (1974), this was the same year that Spanish anarchists blew up six support vehicles with the Tour de France.
At the top of the Tourmalet there is a large beautiful life size cycling statue of Octave Lapize. The first time the Tourmalet was introduced to the Tour was in 1910, it was Lapize that won the stage and went on to win the Tour that same year. Legend has it that as he passed the organizers of the Tour he called them all “assassins” because of the difficulty of the climb.
This will be the fourth time Tarbes hosts a Tour finish and the riders, upon completing the stage, will surely look forward to the much needed rest day.
