|
|
Col du Tourmalet
174 km
Thursday 22 July
The Tourmalet is the icon of the Pyrenees and the mountain top finish, situated in the Hautes-Pyrenees, will be the high spot of the 2010 Tour. It will be climbed on its steepest side uphill from Barèges following the ascension of the Marie-Blanque and Soulor passes. After the rest day climbing legs may be a little “rusty”. Take heed!
• 62 times a stage town
• Population: 82,000
• Prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64)
The last twice the Tour visited the town, in 2007 and 2008, Pau hosted a stage start and a rest day; this will be the case again this year. It was in Pau in 1990 that a Russian rider, Dimitri Konyshev, won for the first time on the Tour. It was also in Pau in 1995 that the pack mourned Fabio Casartelli, who died the day before on the downhill stretch of the Portet d’Aspet. An interesting detail: the last three winners of a stage that started in Pau were Italian.
• Once a stage finish
• High mountain pass (2,115 m) in the Hautes-Pyrénées
• 4, 5 km from La Mongie
One hundred years after Octave Lapize first conquered the Tourmalet in 1910, the pack will once more attack this legendary Tour de France monument, perched at an altitude of 2,115 metres. Since Lapize, the race has climbed to the summit 73 times, making this Pyrenean mountain pass the most frequently climbed pass on the Tour. In 1974 Jean-Pierre Danguillaume won the first, and hitherto only, summit finish here.
