TOUR HISTORY

The Mont du Chat is so terrifyingly steep, with an average gradient of 10.3 per cent, that the Tour has only visited once, in 1974. In spite of its toughness, it was only a second-category climb then, and the Spanish rider Gonzalo Aja was irst to the top, though Eddy Merckx won the stage in a four-up sprint in Aix-les-Bains.