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Stage by stage
stage 17 - Bagnères-de-Luchon 
Peyragudes
143.5 km
Thursday 19 July
Peyragudes
143.5 km
Thursday 19 July
High Mountains - A sporting perspective
Christian Prudhomme’s Analysis
No-one will be feeling out of danger in the morning of a stage that is just as difficult, where there will be no slack period, with, on the agenda, the Col de Menté, whose steepest slope will be climbed by the riders and the Col des Ares.Then from the start of the Port de Balès all the way to the red pennant there will not be any flat ground.
Bagnères-de-Luchon
• Stage town on 51 previous occasions
• 2,700 inhabitants
• Head of the canton of Haute-Garonne (31)
It was on a stage that set off from Luchon in 1969 that Eddy Merckx achieved a feat that immediately made him legendary. A beginner on the Tour, at the ripe old age of 24, the Belgian rider was already wearing the Yellow Jersey at the start of the leading stage of the Pyrenees, but he set off to go over the Col du Tourmalet in a solo 140-km attack, in which he climbed the Col d’Aubisque in particular. At the finish in Mourenx, he ended his performance with a lead of almost eight minutes over his first chasers.
«I hope that now I have done enough for you to consider me as a worthy winner», he said when got off his bike.
Peyragudes
• Stage site for the first time
• Winter sports resort in the Hautes-Pyrénées (65)
The riders will discover Peyragudes in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. They will take the new road that leads to the resort and which represents a veritable natural balcony for the spectators. Although the Tour has already gone over the Col de Peyresourde, situated very close by, 61 times, it has never stopped off in Peyragudes. On the other hand, the organisers of the Route du Sud race marked out the finish line of a mountain time-trial there, in which David Moncoutié had the best time. This timed climb allowed him to win the race.