Tour de France: Stage 21 Preview

Cadel Evans, the first Australian to
win the Tour de France, will wear the
yellow jersey into Paris.

Today marks a whole three weeks since the Tour de France set off along the slippery flagstones of the Passage de Gois and 3335.5km travelled, with 95 to go. There has been tragedy and joy, surprise and confirmation of the expected, vendettas and self-sacrifice in the name of comrades; but what this Tour delivered most, like all Tours before it, was wonder and beauty.

The final stage, since 1975 ending at the Champs-Élysées, is not as other stages - largely ceremonial, the yellow jersey is traditionally not attacked and the wearer permitted to ride into Paris swathed in glory. It could be attacked, but with Andy Schleck the closest rider to Cadel Evans that won't happen today. The King of the Mountains has already been decided which leaves only the Points competition - which can, and with just 15 point between Mark Cavendish and Jose Joaquin Rojas this year possibly will, be decided on the last stretch.

The start line is in Créteil, one of the so-called Gateways to Paris and a stage town for the third time. Once standing alone, the town is contiguous (as much due to its own expansion as that of Paris) with the capital and is located a mere 11.5km from Kilometre Zero near the West Front doors of Notre Dame, the official centre of Paris and the point from which all French roads are measured. The town, as Cristoïlum, was first mentioned in a catalogue of martyrs compiled by Benedictine monks in the 9th Century; Créteil earning its place in the catalogue as it had been the site of the martyrdom of Saints Agoard and Aglibert some half a millennium before. The early adoption of Christianity and the "Crist-" component of the latinised name have given rise to somewhat fanciful theories that the town is named after Christ or even that it has some connection to him, but in reality it's more likely to be derived via various modifications from the Celtic words crist (ridge) and ialo (glade). The modern variant dates from around 1406.

The polissoir.

However, the locale has been inhabited since much earlier times - the discovery of palaeolithic remains in the area are evidence of a culture dating back to at least 10,000 years ago, analogous with the decline of the Würm glaciation at the end of the last Ice Age. On display in the town is a Neolithic "polissoir," a huge stone similar to a modern whetstone used to sharpen and polish knives and other bladed implements. Bronze Age axes heads from the region are displayed at the British Museum in London.

History from the Middle Ages onwards was not always been kind to Créteil: it was attacked ruined by Anglo-Burgundian troops in the 15th Century, looted by Huguenots in the 16th, evacuated due to violence in the 17th and subject to famine in the 18th. Rich Parisians began building grand villas in the town early in the 19th Century, only for it to be attacked and occupied by Russian forces in 1814 and then razed to the ground by Prussian troops in 1870, returning it to little more than a rural backwater, then bombed heavily by the US Air Force during World War 2, causing several deaths amog the local civilian population. It has suffered numerous major floods, the worst of which took place in 1830 and 1910 and the last in 1970.

Les Choux, an example of the fine modern architecture to be
seen in Creteil. (No, I don't know why it's named after the
cabbage either.)

It began to grow in the years following World War 2 and the population increased by almost 17,000 in the eight years after 1954. This period saw rapid urbanisation, including the development of the Mont-Mesly prefecture which is now home to more than 23,000 people, ensuring that the town now boasts some of the finest modern architecture in France. Yet it has much to offer in the way of older buildings, too - the tower of Église Saint-Christophe dates from the 11th Century and is adjoined to a 13th Century church, the whole being built atop an 8th Century crypt which is used to house relics of Saints Agoard and Aglibert. Excavations around the church have revealed graves from the 9th Century. Créteil is also home to the largest dovecote in the country, with space for 1500 birds, which with unusual consideration towards the importance of heritage for the time was moved in 1971 to allow new houses to be constructed on its original site.

The stage begins on the Avenue du General de Gaulle (D1B), from where Les Choux can be seen, and loops about a roundabout before travelling south-east along the wide avenue with its grassy central reservation and large bronze monument to the Resistance. It soon turns south and passes alongside Lac de Créteil, formerly a gypsum quarry that was allowed to flood after decommission in the 1970s, now picturesque and as important a site for leisure as it is for nature. On the other side of the road is the Centre Commercial Créteil Soleil, which looks for all the world like a component from a giant computer motherboard. It then negotiates another roundabout before turning left into a tree-lined avenue and past Le Port 59, a perfectly circular artificial bay on the lake surrounded by some terrifying expensive apartments but belonging really to the swans who live there.

Soon it turns into the Rue Falkirk, named after the Scottish town with which Créteil has been twinned since 1983, then south and south-east again along the Avenue François Mitterrand which takes us over several pedestrians crossings to a crossroads where the parcours veers sharply north-east via a tight corner. It turns north-west and north-east again along the Rue des Corbieres past an area of wooded parkland and past a tall modern water tower, named in a quite charming way the Château d'eau. It then turns north and passes through a narrow passage under a building, which is going to constrict the peloton tightly and may lead to accidents if too many riders attempt to pass through at the same time, and into another area of parkland where modern architecture - including a truly remarkable building at the junction with the Rue Rene Arcos - sits side-by-side with trees, the combination working well and forming an attractive whole.

Eglise Saint-Christophe

A very tight left-hand corner, potentially lethal when wet, leads to another easier one and then an equally technical turn onto the Avenue du Dr. Paul Casalis - home to Tov'Mie which, should you ever happen to be in Paris and find yourself of kosher bread products, I can personally assure you sells the finest bagels in the city. At the end of the road is a traffic island with some trees where the peloton changes direction north east on another tight corner and heads along the Avenue du General Leclerc (D19) which is long, almost perfectly straight and has few hazards until it reaches the junction with the D48E, where the route turns left towards the west. Sights to look out for include a fountain, the Église Saint-Christophe and, in parts, views to the river which runs a short distance away to the east.

Turning left, the route follows the D48E Aveue de la Rebublique until a bridge across a railway where the road becomes the Rue Emile Zola, a section which has many attractive buildings such as the Hôtel-de-Ville at Maisons-Alfort and Camelias, one of the few older commercial buildings left in the area. The parcours crosses the Seine by the imposing Pont du Port à l'Anglais suspension bridge, with a main span of 124m. Suspension bridges always make for excellent footage as the peloton passes across with the helicopters able to get shots from all sorts of interesting angles; with Paris as a backdrop, the results are virtually guaranteed to be even more spectacular than usual here. A big roundabout on the western bank takes the riders onto the Avenue du President Salvador Allende which leads to another railway bridge and on to Avenue Jean Jaures - named after the very same Jean Jaures associated with Carmaux which the Tour reached right back at the end of Stage 10. There's a large and expertly-done mural of a fierce-looking heron on a wall where the Avenue becomes the Avenue Henri Barbusse (D55A).

The Avenue Henri Barbusse is short and ends with another roundabout at the Place de la Liberation, the location of the excellent MAC/VAL contemporary gallery and assorted public works of art. The building itself is a good example of Bauhaus-inspired minimal modernism, as much a work of art as many of its contents. The parcours turns right onto the Avenue Eugene Pelletan (D5) which heads north-west, becoming the Boulevard de Stalingrad after a short while, then the Avenue de Verdun and running straight and wide for some distance before turning sharply left into the Rue Henri Martin which carries the race onto the wide Avenue du Paris for a short way before they turn north-east onto the D54 as it passes through the Cimetière Parisien d'Ivry, last resting place of Louis Caput - third place in the 1942 Circuit de France, one of the stage races that replaced the Tour while it was suspended during WW2.

Fort de Charenton.

The D54 takes a series of sharp corners before the parcours changes to the D50 past the Place Voltaire to the Parc des Cormailles, where there is an artificial hill with a spiral path stretching to the top, then back over the railway and on to the Boulevard Paul Vaillant Couturier (D19) and onto the Pont d'Ivry which carries the peloton across the Seine once more and onwards for a second visit to the Avenue du General Leclerc before switching to the Avenue Gambetta running straight and full of street furniture to the Pont de Maisons-Alfort which crosses one of the most attractive stretches of river in Paris. The route then passes by the docks which, although much gentrified, are still home to working boat yards allowing all manner of watercraft old and modern to be seen as they wait for repairs. The peloton will then join another section of the Rue Henri Barbusse along the D123 heading south-east towards the Avenue de la Liberation (D45). Nearby is the Fort de Charenton, built according to the government to help prevent Paris ever again being subject to the foreign occupations that took place following the decline of Napoleon and according to the left-wing opposition to subdue the populace should they ever again rise up against the establishment.

After switching north-east, another bridge takes the peloton onto the Avenue Charles Floquet, then the N4 nd a long stretch of the N303 to the D30 just south of two river islands, then across the Pont de Bry from where there are good views to the Quai d'Artois with its fine homes. Travelling north-west on the Avenue du General de Gaulle the peloton heads straight to the Rond Point where the riders switch onto the D44 heading west past the Parc des Epivans, an athletics centre, then the Boulevard Gallenini and Avenue de la Republique. A sweeping bend turns south to the Rue de France, with the vast Residence Val de France housing development, a series of tower blocks joined together and winding around.

Chateau de Vincennes

The parcours changes south-east and then south on the Avenue de la Pepiniere into the Bois de Vincennes park where it passes to the north and west of the not-very-picturesque Fort Neuf, which remains the property of the French Ministry of Defence and to which access is limited. On the other side of the road is the far more aethetically-pleasing Château de Vincennes, established in the 14th Century and much redeveloped in the 17th. In addition to being a fortress, the chateau has served as a porcelain factory and a prison - it was once housed the Marquis de Sade and, in the early 20th Century, Mata-Hari who was executed here. Although the Tour is using only a small part of the park, it's very beautiful overall despite the Fort and the helicopters will no doubt be making the most of it. The Avenue Daumesnil past the artificial lake with its two islands and Avenue de Saint-Maurice past the Ancient Cemetery take the peloton back out of the park, where it reaches the Charenton-le-Pont and officially enters Paris.

A very welcome sight after 3430.5km!

The route follows the N6 along the banks of the river, passing the Iles Saint-Louis and de la Cite and Notre-Dame, crossing the Pont Royale just west of the Louvre at one of the best places to view the museum and Jardin des Tuileries. From now on, the peloton are on the final circuits, during which they will travel around the Place de la Concorde and up the Avenue des Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, around and back down nine times times, each circuit being 6km, with the intermediate sprint coming after the third circuit. The Grand Finale is at the Arc following 95km, estimated to be some time shortly after 17:00 local time.

And that, folks, is your lot for the next 49 weeks. C'est la vie. Luckily, it's not long until the Vuelta a Espana.

Weather: It should be dry over the entire parcours, but showers are an outside possibility. Temperatures will be around 22 degrees C, which is ideal for cycling, but winds of up to 20kmph are just strong enough to be a pain when blowing from the side or the front.

Predictions: How about we go out on a limb and say Cadel Evans? Who, though, will win the intermediate sprint? Many people are going to try, especially Jose Joaquin Rojas who is just 15 points from winning the overall sprinter's competition - but he has little chance of beating Mark Cavendish.

Tour de France: Stage 20 Preview

Incredible and depressing as it may seem, we're already at the penultimate stage on the 2011 Tour. It seems just a few days since the peloton got off to a wobbly start along the Passage de Gois, the crashes that took Bradley Wiggins out of the race and Alexander Vinokourov out of cycling could have been the day before yesterday; but in fact it's been three weeks since Vendée. All that is left is the individual time trial today and the short ride into Paris.

Grenoble at night, photographed from the Bastille.

The city of Grenoble has been a stage town no fewer than 38 times and we can expect a festive atmosphere because, as residents of the unofficial Capital of the Alps,  the 160,000 Grenoblois are well-used to large sporting events: in addition to the regular Tour visits, they hosted the Winter Olympics in 1968 and, annually, the Six Days track cycling festival. It's also a major mountain biking centre and attracts skiiers, snowboarders, paragliders and the practitioners of all other sports that require altitude from all around the world are drawn here partially for the excellent sporting facilities but also for the famous atmosphere - Grenoble has grown wealthy on sports and high-tech industries, and with 51.55% of the residents being aged between 15 and 44 this is a party town.

Surviving section of Roman city wall, Grenoble.

Surrounded on all sides by mountains with some 20 skiing stations, the city occupies a plateau at just over 200m altitude. Mountain sports have led to the creation of many sparkling new towns, but while Grenoble sparkles it's most definitely not new: the earliest mention in text dates to 43BCE when it was known as Cularo. It was already an important place by the 3rd Century CE when the Roman emperor Gratian fortified it, adding a wall and bestowing upon it the right to call itself a city rather than a town. Sections of the walls can still be seen in the older neighbourhoods, most notably along the Rue Lafayette. Gratian gave his own name to the community when it became Gratianopolis which, in time, was modified to Graignovol during the medieval period and, eventually, to its modern form.

Graignovol was chosen by the noble House of Albon, rulers of an assortment of territories throughout the region which as part of the Holy Roman Empire were subject only to very limited French control, as their capital during the 11th Century and the city began to grow larger - and as the Counts made the city richer and more important, it returned the favour. In time they were powerful enough to consolidate their properties and thus create the state of Dauphiné, an independent province with a name familiar to all cyclists due to the eight-stage Critérium du Dauphiné race that takes place annually in early June and serves an important testing ground for the Tour de France in addition to being one of the most important events on the cycling calendar in its own right.

The city benefited from rulers who, by the standards of the time, were remarkably benevolent and who shared their power with some equally generous bishops. Under their command it gained two hospitals and a university, and the Roman bridge was rebuilt. In the late 14th Century Humbert II found himself without an heir and, with no obvious and suitable successor to whom he could hand over the state, he sold the Dauphiné to France. However, it remained to all intents an independent state until the middle of the 15th Century under Louis XI when it was officially and fully incorporated into the kingdom, though the city's inhabitants obtained a charter guaranteeing them certain rights and a fair say in decisions affecting their province.

The Bastille at Grenoble is the most extensive example of 18th Century
fortifications in France.

With a largely Protestant population, Grenoble was attacked frequently during the 16th and 17th Century religious wars and fell to the Catholics in 1590. Rather than controlling and inhabiting their new acquisition, the new rulers - called the Ligue - seemed intent on running it into the ground and so resistance groups led by François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, soon formed and within a year had successfully regained control within a year. De Bonne became lieutenant-general and set about improving the city, increasing its size and building sewers, improved city walls, a bastille and many fountains (because the French do love their fountains). The Bastille still stands on its rocky mount overlooking the town and is now the site of cultural centres, restaurants and various attractions. Around the time of the Revolution the city was briefly renamed Grelibre, but became Grenoble once more under Napoleon. It fell to Austrian troops in 1814 but was rapidly taken back by Napoleon's forces, later withstanding attacks in the wake of Waterloo - which lessened Napoleon's power in France considerably

. By the late 19th Century, industrialisation was in full swing in the city. The great engineer and scientist Aristide Bergès - very much France's Isambard Kingdom Brunel - was instrumental in Grenoble's early adoption of hydroelectric power, which revolutionised the glove-making industry for which the area was famous and massively increased output so that Grenoblois gloves were exported and sold to wealthy people all around the world. Bergès also established papermills, adding another wealth-making string to Grenoble's bow. This expertise made the city an ideal base of production during the First World War when the hydroelectric schemes were expanded to provide power for the war effort and chemical factories grew up among the papermills, the beginnings of the high-tech industries that now generate much of Grenoble's wealth.

That industrial power of course meant that the city was considered highly valuable by the Nazis, who targeted it early on in WW2. Their early invasion attempts were thwarted by General Cartier, leaving the province free of German control right up until the establishment of Vichy France when it became subject to Italian occupation. However, Grenoble never did submit to Fascism and was a problematic hotbed of Résistance activity; seeing many heroic deeds by the underground army - it was this, combined with the Italian's tendency not to be quite so rabidly antisemitic as the Nazis, that saw the Jewish population of Grenoble increase greatly during the war. Late in 1943 the Résistance successfully destroyed a German artillery station which caused a violent crackdown in response with eleven Résistance members murdered - but even this didn't defeat their spirit. A newly-built German arsenal was blown up less than a month later and other attacks took place throughout the province. These brave and decisive actions were recognised soon after the Nazis pulled out when the city was awarded the Compagnon de la Libération by General de Gaulle.

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility

In 1955 the physicist Louis Néel, who would receive a Nobel prize in 1970 for his important work with magnetism which has been instrumental in the development of modern computes, established the CENG nuclear research facility combining research and industry in what has become known as the Grenoble Model. In time, many other laboratories were attracted or set up in Grenoble, including the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and many others which have helped to make the city a world centre of physical research. Latterly, micro and nanotechnology firms have set up, ensuring that Grenoble's status as the largest research centre in France after Paris is secure for many years to come.

With its connections to the Criterium du Dauphine, Tour and mountain biking Grenoble is a city very much in love with le velo, even by the standards of the French obsession with cyclisme. The stage begins near the city hall, at a large park containing the hall itself and a variety of sporting facilities, then heads south-east on the D5. This being an urban environment, the road features a large number of hazards in the form of street furniture and roundabouts before it reaches Eybens after 2.5km on the outskirts of the city. Eybens has in the past been declared the most sporting city with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants in all of France, so large crowds are likely to be lining the streets today. The road then swings east and across a roundabout shortly before reaching Eyben's velodrome, then south-east through a wooded section, then south again along a much clearer road into Tavernolles and another roundabout. A long, straight section through Le Replat will encourage high speeds, favouring the individual time trial specialists such as Fabian Cancellara but also giving the sprinters a chance to work on their overall times. On the southern edge of the town, the road has kink and an unusual ~ shaped traffic island, making the section quite technical and a possible site of crashes if its wet at any point.

Chateau de Vizille

A few kilometres on is Brié-et-Angonnes with a medieval chapel that the camera operators will - fortunately - be unable to resist. The parcours then turns south-west, along the side of a very steep hill known as Haute-Brié (surely the ideal name for a particularly stinky cheese? It rises 175m in under 0.5km at one point) and takes in a very sharp hairpin bend shortly before Vizille - a hazard that is almost guaranteed to claim at least one victim today. Vizille is famous for its chateau, one of the most photographed in the country and the star of many a postcard, jigsaw and biscuit tin. If you're one of the numerous people who watches the Tour for the chateaux, don't miss this one.

There are a few technical junctions and some street furniture on the way into Vizille; and the road narrows considerably before the tight left-hand turn onto the D524 which leads us to the chateau gardens, home to some extremely territorial geese. It then heads north-east back into the countryside, passing many large houses on the way to Les Cornier which stands at the foot of a steep mountainside that rises to over 2000m. The parcours passes through assorted small hamlets and villages until it reaches a roundabout and junction with the D111, onto which we turn right and head east to a hairpin, then south and up a short but reasonably steep climb to Belmont. Leaving the D111, riders travel north on much narrower, twisting roads into Le Boulond before heading into Saint-Martin-d'Uriage and joining D280. Saint-Martin-d'Uriage's chateau housed a staff training college for the Vichy Government during WW2.

We then pass through the town - more street furniture, corners, roundabouts - to the D524. The first section has several hazards, including a large island containing buildings and a park in the road which could potentially win or lose seconds depending on which way riders go around it. The road then takes a series of sweeping bends around forested hills, untechnical but with possible slippery parts if it rains, into La Combe de Gières and via a fork in the road into Gières with the little Fort du Mûrier. Just past the fork we join the D112, taking us through another forested section and then onto a straight section through town and back into Grenoble, heading back to the park from which we started.

Predictions: This a course that ought to suit Cancellara, but with so much still to play for several riders will be going all out to win this one. Tony Martin, the probable next king of time trials, will also do well - perhaps even beating King Cancellara. The two with most to play for - and potentially lose - are Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck, either of whom could win the Tour today. Cadel is the better time trialist and as such the favourite, but Andy starts the day with a good lead and has hugely improved his time trialing in the last year or two.

Weather: It's really not time-trialing weather today - parts of the course may get some rain, making technical sections more hazardous. The wind will help riders on the way out, but will then become headwinds as they turn back towards Grenoble making the going more difficult and taking valuable seconds off recorded times.

Links: 
Grenoble Tourism
Grenoble Cycling

Tour de France: Stage 13 Preview

Stage 13, at "a mere" 152.5km, is the shortest of this year's Tour except for the time trials and largely ceremonial final jaunt to the Champs-Élysées, but it should most definitely not be discounted as an easy one - the altitude profile shows beyond argument that this is a very difficult stage indeed and there's a high probability that not all of the riders who set out upon it are going to make it to the finish line. Shortly before the stage began, news came in that Gert Steegmans of QuickStep would not be starting the race due to a wrist injury sustained in a crash.

That big pointy thing two thirds of the way along is the Col d'Aubisque, a 1709m high pas which exists because of the Tour: in 1910, Tour organiser Alphone Steinès visited the area and decided that the mountain would be an ideal accompaniment to Col du Tourmalet, also used for the first time that year, and so he paid a call to the local official in charge of building roads in the region and was told, "Take the riders up the Aubisque? You're completely crazy in Paris!"

However, as is so often the case with officials, the man was easily convinced to change his mind by the application of brute finance - Steinès offered the enormous sum of 5000ff to pay for the work (though the canny Henri Desgrange later reduced it by 3000ff).

Like Tourmalet, Aubisque has achieved legendary status among cyclists who come from all around the world to emulate their heroes - at their own pace! - by climbing its Hors-Categorie flanks, and it too has collected a myriad of stores. One of the most famous is that of the Dutchman Wim van Est who, in 1951, lost control when his front tyre skidded out on a patch of loose gravel, plunging headlong into a ravine. His support crew and spectators rushed to the edge, not wanting to see the messy sight they expected but hoping he might have somehow survived. Miraculously, he was unhurt save for bruises; having landed on a sloping section before rolling to a halt some 70m down - had he have fallen a metre to either side he'd have plummeted to a certain death on the rocks hundreds of metres below.

All well and good, but how was he going to get out? His manager got a rope from the car but it wasn't long enough, so instead he used it to tie together forty tyres - the team's entire stock for the race - and lowered them over the edge. Thankfully, they extended far enough and Wim was pulled back up to the road. However, the tyres were stretched and useless so the team had to be extra careful not to damage those already fitted to their bikes until new ones could be supplied. The location of Wim's near-death experience has been marked since 2001 with a statue highlighting the fact that while he kept his life in the incident, he lost the yellow jersey - which he wore on two more occasions during a long and distinguished career.

Pau

The start today is Pau, where the 87,000 inhabitants have had the honour of seeing their town serve as a stage town no less than 63 times. The chateau, originally a genuine medieval defensive castle which has subsequently been prettified over the years so that it's now as much gateau as chateau, is widely considered one of the finest in France. Used as a holiday cottage by Napoleon, it now houses a museum with a collection of medieval tapestries.

Once Pau is left behind via the D945 and D733 we soon come to Bougarber where a well-preserved medieval gatehouse marks what was one of the boundaries of the village in the days when it was an important refuge for pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Jacques de Compostela across the border in Spain. We may find what the Tour cyclists do on this stage impressive, but for medieval pilgrims the Pyrenees held far greater dangers - until comparatively recently, it was a place of bears, lynxes, wolves and vicious bandits.

This flat early part of the stage seems another obvious place for an early breakaway. We predict that a group of between five and eight riders, probably including some from FDJ and perhaps Sky's Xabier Zandio who has gone a bit quiet in the last few stafes, will successfully attempt to open a gap within the first few kilometres before trying to keep it up over the two small climbs and through the sprint, grabbing any points they can along the way.

The parcours makes its way through a variety of road junctions to Lacq, a not unattractive village with a very impressive modern town hall. Unfortunately, the village's charms are somewhat wasted due to being right next door to a vast gas refinery not far off 1.5km in width, around which the peloton will skirt by way of the S-shaped D31 before reaching Lagor 30km from the start. The D9 takes us south east down to Mourenx which is the sort of place Frederick Gibberd probably hoped Harlow and Stevenage in the UK would turn out to be, through Lahourcade and onwards to Monein where the village church has an unusually prison-like tower. 5km on we come to the first climb of the day which, when compared to what comes later, hardly counts as a climb at all; the Côte de Cuqueron tops out at a not-very-impressive 265m. It has an average gradient of 8.1% however, which is steep in anyone's books and explains why it's Categorised 3.

6km down the road is Lacommande, the name coming from the presence of the medieval commandery built and originally used by the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and from there it's 7.5km to Lasseube where there are enough grand homes on the surrounding hills to keep most chateaufans safe from withdrawal symptoms for a good while. There are a couple of fairly sketchy corners in the middle of the village which could prove problematic if it rains, this being a rural area and thus liable to diesel spills from tractors and other vehicles.

As we reach the 65km, the road heads upwards again for the Cat 4 Côte de Belair. Once again, it's not exactly a lungbuster at 428m but the 8.4% gradient is respectable and the riders will probably be glad to slow down a bit and get some energy bars down them when they get to feed station at Sévignacq-Meyracq which is reached in 11km time.

Bielle

The intermediate sprint at Bielle will see those riders who need to grab all they can during the mostly flat first part of the stage battling it out for the points on offer along the flat valley floor where the village lies between foothills on either side - if a breakaway hasn't already been through and picked up the best prizes, expect a hell-for-leather mass brawl here with Mark Cavendish a likely winner so long as the Stage 12 mountains didn't hurt him too much.

23km further on down the D934 in Gourette, a winter resort 1400m above sea level which was once also famous for its goldmines - the remains of the railtracks along which carts ran carrying ore can still be seen on the mountainsides. From here, the Hors-Categorie Col d'Aubisque is 4.5km away along the D918 which twists around and about on its way to the top - by which point the riders will have just completed a 16.4km climb with an average gradient of 7.1%, ending up 1709m above sea level. There are stunning views of the rocky crags to the south, the tops not far off 1000m higher still. On the way down the route passes through the Cirque du Litor, an incredibly beautiful section and after 9.5km the Col du Soulor, a small uncategorised climb up a "false summit" - small, but at 1471m the air is sufficiently rarified to make it hard-going. The D918 in this section has to be one of the most spectacular roads in Europe, clinging to the sides of the steep mountainsides and passing through arches carved into the rock.

Soon we come to the little village of Aucun, the first of many packed into the next few kilometres, then Arras-en-Lavedan with an ancient round tower, presumably the last part of some vanished stronghold or castle, stands next to the village church may once have belonged to it. After that it's Argeles-Gazost, a spa town which became a popular resort in the latter half of the 19th Century and has many villas - some of them more like good-sized chateaux - as a result.

By the time we reach Ayzac-Ost we're rather disappointingly back onto flat terrain again and there are only 13km to go to the end of this final Pyrenean stage. As a result, Agos-Vidalos - perhaps not the most attractive village at the best of times - seems really quite depressing. It's lucky for us, then, that the stage finishes in Lourdes which this year is acting as a stage town for the third time.

Lourdes is, of course, the location of the marian visions experienced by a local woman who was subsequently declared a saint by the Vatican, giving rise to the most prosperous industry in the area. Now, whether you believe in that sort of thing or not is up to you (regular readers will probably have guessed by now that it's not part of my heritage) but if there's one thing you can say for Catholics, it's that they know how to put up a decent-looking church and it's no surprise that a place like this has some fairly good ones. The Rosary Basilica is the most famous, but the traditionally-styled Ukrainian church with its golden domes is a spectacle too. If, on the other hand, you're the type of person who dislikes all ecclesiastical buildings due to a dislike of religion in general, ignore them all and have a look for La Citadelle instead, the vast and imposing medieval castle on a rocky hill in the centre of the town.

La Citadelle, Lourds.

Predictions: It could be just about anyone today - if they can climb a bit and keep up a decent speed on the flat, the stage is there for the taking. The thing is, of course, those conditions apply to a lot of people - including some of the top name GC guys. This isn't really a stage for the top climbers, but if Andy decides he wants it there's probably not much to stop him. Yes, he'll be wanting to save energy for the mountains in Stage 14, but isn't being able to do this sort of thing day in and day out what being a champion climber is all about?

If he doesn't, then why not his big brother Frank? Frank has probably had a fairly unpleasant couple of years, outshone by his kid brother, but a lot of observers are wondering if perhaps Frank's on better form than Andy this year - he's certainly having a very good Tour. Encouraged by his third place win in Stage 12, he might decide Stage 13 is the one where he's going to go for the top place on the podium - and it's looking like he could get there, too. The stage could also give us another showing of Euskaltel's strength as there's only one more on their turf, so they might want to demonstrate their fearsome climbing ability. Wildcard: Geraint. Nobody knew that the young Welshman was capable of doing what he did in Stage 12 and he probably even surprised himself. If he's recovered overnight and feels up to it in the morning he could decide to put his newly-discovered superpowers to the test and find out what he's capable of. He's got our vote, anyway.

Weather: Warm and sunny in Pau this morning - if anything, perhaps a little too warm at 26 C with virtually no breeze at all. Light cloud will prevent it becoming really oppressive. Artix and Monein should be much the same, though the clouds may thicken after 40km from the start. By Lassuebe it will likely be a couple of degrees cooler and by Bielle possibly a full 10 C cooler than the start, with a chance of light showers. Gourette should be sunny but temperatures are predicted to be 13 C. Visibility at Gourette will be around 10km, permitting good views of the high mountains. Col d'Aubisque, therefore, will be a degree or two cooler due to altitude and may be windier though strong winds are not forecast anywhere along the route. Aucun should be around 15 C, again very gentle winds with a 1 in 5 chance of showers this morning, but these should have cleared by this afternoon when the Tour arrives. Lourdes, down in the lowlands, will be warmer with around 20-24 C predicted for late afternoon. However, it also has a higher chance of rain.

Note that weather can be highly unpredictable in mountainous areas with sudden changes happening rapidly and without warning.

DEVIL WATCH: As all Devil Spotters know, the Devil likes steep climbs because they offer an ideal opportunity to leap about at the roadside and cheer the riders on when they're suffering the most. Thus, it's really got to be on the way up Col d'Aubisque - a place he has put in many appearances over the years. We'd love to  see him strolling through the centre of Lourdes, but he's a very non-evil devil and would be unlikely to do so for fear of causing offence.