Limoux Foix Prat d’Albis
A classic Pyrenean rollercoaster sees a mix of old and modern climbs, with a spectacular new summit finish
The outline of stage 15 resembles nothing more than a tightening hangman’s noose. There’s a long and steady run-in west from Limoux, before the route describes a circle which takes in three tricky climbs; the Port de Lers, Mur de Péguère and Prat d’Albis. None of these are Tour epics – they are all first-category climbs, and the Péguère is six kilometres of harmlessness followed by an unspeakably steep three-kilometre ramp. But the combination of the three, following on from the previous day’s exertions on the Tourmalet, are what will cause damage.
The Péguère is one of the modern Tour’s pet climbs, although it has yet to do the damage that the marketing department has promised. The first time out, in 2012, a soft breakaway had contested the climb with Sandy Casar the first rider to cross the top, while the GC gruppo, largely compatto, was only challenged by an unidentified antagonist sprinkling nails on the road and causing a spate of punctures. There were no attacks, but plenty of tacks. Then in 2017, a downhill finish into Foix somewhat neutralised the impact of the climb.
However, the 2019 Péguère will be followed by the brand new summit finish of Prat d’Albis, above Foix.
WHO DOES IT SUIT?
Unlike the Péguère, the steep part here comes in the first half of the climb, which should encourage earlier attacks. If the script of previous Tours is followed, this is the kind of stage in which the monolithic Team Ineos will control things on the lower slopes, before their leaders are let loose to turn the screw on the summit finish.
According to the dualist faith of the Cathars of this region, whose religion thrived in the late Middle Ages, everything was divided into good or evil, each represented by a different god. The Cathars were crushed by a Catholic crusade, and one notable massacre took place at Montségur, today’s first climb. For the Catholics, whose monotheistic creed allowed for only one god, the heretics could not be allowed their freedom. Ineos’s rivals will know the feeling.
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