SAINT! GIRONS " FOIX

DISTANCE 100KM TERRAIN MOUNTAIN

Both from a sporting and TV coverage perspective, the consensus is that short, punchy mountain stages are the future for Grand Tour racing, not multiple hors catagory slog fests. A shorter parcours encourages daring attacks, where longer stages are ground out as wars of attrition. Prudhomme seems to be coming around to the idea. The 2011 and 2015 stages to Alpe d’Huez, 109.5km and 110.5km, produced some of the best Tour racing of recent times and the hope is that this 100km stage delivers something similar. That it comes after a long day in the Pyrenees will complicate matters so expect to see the rollers and turbos out by the team buses. Chris Froome and team were caught napping at the start of the 120km Vuelta stage 15 last summer, torpedoing his hopes of winning, so they’ll be on high alert in France. The final 3.5km of the Mur de Péguère average over 12 per cent - reaching 18 in places - and is designed to cause chaos. There’s another 27km, mostly downhill, to the Foix finish, so Péguère is less spring board to success, more a high dive.