The Tour de France makes its obligatory annual visit to Pau for the start of the stage 14 ahead of a difficult day in the high mountains, which will see the riders take on the Col du Tourmalet (19km at 7.4%), Col d’Aspin (5km at 7.6%), Col de Peyresourde (7.1km at 7.8%) and the summit finish to the ski resort at Superbagnères (12.4km at 7.3%).
The Souvenir Jacques Goddet will be awarded to the first rider to summit the Tourmalet, which has been a near-annual tradition since 2001, and it will also mark the first of four ascents at this year’s race to reach two thousand metres above sea level.
The two ascents that follow should be enough to soften the legs of the riders before they reach the foot of the final climb in Bagnères-de-Luchon, as the favourites’ teams will look to make the race hard to put their rivals into difficulty and isolate them in the group.
The climb to Superbagnères has not been used at the Tour de France since 1989, when Robert Millar won ahead of Pedro Delgado in the final uphill sprint to the line. The two prior visits to the ski resort saw both Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond take the victory on the way to winning the maillot jaune in 1979 and 1986 respectively, the latter of which inspired the design of this stage.
History tells us that this stage could have sizeable ramifications in deciding the overall outcome of the race and we could see moves from the GC contenders, as they will be keen to put time into each other with it being the final mountain stage before the second rest day.
Stage 14 Sprints
- Esquièze-Sère, km. 70.1
Stage 14 Mountains
- Col du Tourmalet (HC), km. 89.5 - Souvenir Jacques Goddet
- Col d'Aspin (cat. 2), km. 119.3
- Col de Peyresourde (cat. 1), km. 150.1
- Luchon-Superbagnères (HC), km. 182.6
