17.07 - Stage 10: Bazas - Pau 147 km

The sprinters know that they must make the most of this stage - tomorrow the mountains of the Pyrenees loom. The riders will set off from the Place de la Sean Jean Cathedrale. Once again the town is full of excitement as the Tour hits town. The town is famous for its cattle and in the past the herders used stilts to watch their herds over the surrounding flat countryside - expect to see traditional stilt dancers at the start of the stage.

Interesting to see the preparations the town has made for the Tour. Visit their excellent web site here.

This is how the preparations for the day are planned:

Installation of the Tour Village Cathedral square starting from 19h Tuesday July 16.

6h00: Installation of the safety fences (more than 1000!)

Arrival of the advertising caravan which will be parked at Allées de Tilleuls.

10h0: Opening of the Tour Village

11h00: Arrival of the Riders (22 cars plus the cars of the sporting directors)

12h20: Departure of the advertising caravan

13h45: Announcement of the riders

14h05: Official departure

All the afternoon: Celebrations in the square, music, folklore, etc

Evening: Meal and dancing in the square

Fireworks

Of course, the riders will be unaware of the celebrations they have caused and will be heading down to Pau - to see the stage profile visit this link.

Pau is often visited by the Tour - being either the gateway to or from the Pyrenees - the town website has a webcam - which may be worth looking at today to see the effects of the tour on the town -visit here.

Pau first held a stage in 1930 (Stage winner: Alfredo Binda) and for the last time in 1999 (Stage winner: David Etxebarria).

Daily Peloton?s Stage Prediction
The main contenders will be considering the mountains that loom - and the sprinters will know this is one of their last chances for glory - the inevitable breakaway will pulled back by the sprinters. With Both Tom Steels and Jan Kirsipuu in national colours expect to see battle Royale with the man from Estonia taking the honours.

The AG2R team looks like it will be: Christophe Agnolutto (Fra), Stéphane Bergès (Fra), Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), Inigo Chaurreau Bernadez (Spa), Andy Flickinger (Fra), Jaan Kirsipuu (Est), Christophe Oriol (Fra) , Laurent Paumier (Fra), Ludovic Turpin (Fra) - the Spainish rider Chaurreau will be their main overall hope.

Tour Talk
"Départ Fictive - Départ Réel": The streets are usually too narrow to give a mass-start. The racers therefore parade after a "fictive start" in good order through the city streets, with the leaders in front line. When the bunch gets out of the city and the street enlarges, the race director, standing in his traditional convertible red car, waves a white flag with the word DEPART [start] in capitals and underscored. The sponsor logo turns out to be on two poles with fixed cloth constructions on the side of the road, marking the imaginary line where the director should wave the flag this is the Départ Réel.

Local Hero
During the 2nd World War the Tour de France did actually do its best to continue. In 1942 the Circuit de France and in 1943 and ?44 the Grand Prix du Tour de France kept the tradition alive. In 1946 Guilo Bresci won the Pau stage of the Ronde de France (a peace time race but suffering from the effects of war) and another stage victory saw him take the overall too. Giuilo Bresci carried on as a professional after the war years and won two stages of the Tour of Switzerland and a stage in the Giro too.

So a small tribute to a "Tour de France" winner in such difficult times - Giuilo Bresci!

Full Tour coverage is located on the Daily Peloton main TdF page here.