2014 Tour de France Stage 18 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 18 of the 2014 Tour de France! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
If the green jersey competition is looking tight, sprinters equipped with decent climbing skills might be able to earn some extra points by hauling themselves over the two early third category climbs of Co?te de Be?ne?jacq and Co?te de Loucrup (56km) for the intermediate sprint in Tre?bons.
It’s the last day in the mountains, with big points in the KoM competition at stake and a last chance for climbers to take a stage win. Once again the mighty HC-ranked Tourmalet, the Tour’s most used mountain, looms into view. The peloton tackle the Tourmalet on the slightly easier east-west ascent through Campan and La Mongie before it maxes out at 2,115m beside the Jacques Goddet memorial. Race planners hope the desperate and the courageous among the overall contenders will launch attacks on the 17.4km climb that will set up a battle royal later on. But who will have the energy? The fast, open descent means excellent descending skills won’t be as useful today unless it’s wet – just power and exceptional pain management.
The finale is the Hautacam, a 13.6km HC climb with some devilishly steep gradients at around kilometres 7 and 9. It was first used in the Tour 20 years ago and has been used four times. It’ll be the last chance for the strong climbers such as Vincenzo Nibali and Andy Schleck to grab some minutes and seconds before the TT in two days’ time.
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