Le Lioran: descenders' peak (2/6)

The battlefield
There will be an unprecedented seventeen days between the first and the last mountain stage of the Tour de France. It all begins on the road to Le Lioran, a gruelling sequence of climbs which will force the riders into a "standing start" after about 1,000 km of flat terrain. The final forty kilometres feature Le Puy Mary, the Col du Perthus and the ascent to Le Lioran resort, whose steep gradients will provide a launch pad for climbers with good sensations. The up-and-down trek through the Cantal department could turn out to be a "world descending championship", especially on the descent from Le Perthus, with the potential bonus of a yellow jersey.
 
Eyes on the prize
Auvergne is Romain Bardet's stomping grounds. All eyes will be on the Ag2r leader, and not just because his grandmother from Murat will make the short trip to cheer on her grandson, or because he hurtled down his first ski slopes at Le Lioran resort. His spirit and talent will push Bardet to the front line, where his descending skills could give him the edge like they did in last year's Dauphiné stage to Pra-Loup.
 
More generally, there are several podium contenders who could make hay out of this stage: Dan Martin will feel more at home in Cantal than on the great Alpine or Pyrenean passes; Dani Navarro and Eduardo Sepúlveda can use the element of surprise, just like Wilco Kelderman; Adam Yates will be able to play his cards here in the context of a potential fight for white with Warren Barguil; Rui Costa has shown his ability to surge and triumph on similar terrain nearby (stage win in Super-Besse in 2011); as has Andrew Talansky, the winner of the stage to Brioude in the 2013 Paris–Nice. Of course, one can never rule out the possibility of a surprise guest turning up to upset things…
 
A blast from the past
The resort, then known as Super-Lioran, was propelled to fame by former Prime Minister and later President Georges Pompidou. In 1975, a 260 km stage starting in Albi took the peloton on a tour of almost every kind of landscape Auvergne has to offer. The bunch was so exhausted at the end of the stage that Antoine Blondin wrote: "Arise, the dead! Arise on your pedals" in his daily report for L'Équipe. The riders spent nine hours on their saddles. Behind the Belgian stage winner, Michel Pollentier, the sheer pain kept the favourites together, especially in the case of Raymond Poulidor, who was nursing a bronchitis. The most spectacular twists and turns of this edition had yet to take place, with Eddy Merckx eventually capitulating to Bernard Thévenet.