96th Tour de France Parcours Preview Part 3
With the second and final rest day confined to riders memories, it's back into the saddle for the peloton as the 2009 Tour de France enters its final week and crunch time.

Jersey Leaders After Stage 15
Maillot Jaune: Alberto Contador
Maillot Vert: Thor Hushovd Cervélo TestTeam
KOM: Franco Pellizotti Liquigas
U25: Tony Andy Schleck Saxo Bank
Team: Astana

Tuesday July 21st
Stage 16 Martigny - Bourg St Maurice 159 km
The third phase of the Tour starts in the country where the second phase ended - Switzerland. The route runs south, taking the riders, much to the annoyance of Alejandro Valverde, into Italy - it was this stage that rendered him unable to ride in this year's Tour as he is currently banned form riding on Italian tarmac. Towards the end of the stage the riders come back into France to finish in the town of Bourg St Maurice.

The stage features two tough climbs. The first - the hors category Col du Grand Saint-Bernard is the highpoint of this year's race, topping out at 2,469 metres. It's a long ascent at 24.4 kms long at an average gradient of 6.2% but it comes early on in the stage - the riders going over the top just 40.5 kms in. There follows a long descent into the Aosta valley before the road again rears up to the Col de Petit Saint-Bernard, a category one climb to 2,184 metres. Again there is then a descent into the finish town of Bourg St Maurice.

Stage 16 Map   

There is virtually no flat on this stage, the riders will either be going uphill slowly, or downhill rapidly. The descent after the Col de Petit Saint-Bernard may affect the ability of any of the GC contenders to take significant time here. That said, anyone in desperate need of a few seconds to get back on terms may well try their luck and attack.

Stage16 Climbs
40.5 km - Hors Category Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard (24.4 km/6.2 % max)
128 km - Cat. 1 Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard (22.6 km/5.1 % max)

Bourg St Maurice WikipediaTM Fact(?): If the organisers had wanted to have been particularly cruel they could have added another summit finish to this year's Tour by tacking on to the end of this stage the climb to the ski station of Les Arcs, which starts in Bourg St Maurice. That they didn't is good news for the riders, but bad news for us.

Wednesday 22nd July
Stage 17 Bourg St Maurice - Le Grand Bornand 169.5 km
Ever since the route of the Tour was announced back in October one stage has dominated everyone's thoughts. And no, this isn't it. The undeniably tough and significant Ventoux stage is still a few days away and whilst that stage will of course have a significant say in who goes to Paris in Yellow, today's stage 17 is probably the toughest of the race and could be just as significant.

No fewer than five categorised climbs await the riders on the 169.5 kilometer route from Bourg St Maurice to Le Grand Bornand, four of them category one monsters.

Stage 17 Map   

As soon as the starter's flag goes down the peloton will start climbing. First up is the Cormet de Roseland, the high point of the stage at 1,968 metres high, then comes the Col de Saises, the Cote d'Araches, the Col de Romme and finally the Col de la Columbiere, before a 15 km descent into Le Grand Bornand.

Tough though the early climbs are, they are likely to serve as mere appetizers to the main course of the Col De Romme and the Columbiere. They are so close together they could almost be considered a single climb, albeit one with a short descent in between, and Andy Schleck has already warned of the difficulties to be faced on the Col de Romme. With this being the last mountain stage before Ventoux any GC contender will be on the look out to take time here, either to claw back time prior to the Annecy time trial or to consolidate their position.

There may be a descent after the final summit, but it is a short one and any rider away at the front will like their chances of it staying that way. Make no mistake, this is a tough day and really heralds the start of the Tour's end-game. After all the shadow boxing that may have gone before, we are approaching knock-out time.

Stage 17 Climbs
18 km - Cat. 1 Cormet de Roselend (18.1 km/5.7 % max)
56 km - Cat. 1 Col des Saisies (15.1 km/ 6 %max)
111.5 km - Cat. 2 Côte d'Araches (6.3 km/7 % max)
140.5 km - Cat. 1Col de Romme  (8.8 km/8.9 % max)
154.5 km - Cat. 1 Col de la Colombière  (7.5/8.5 % max)

Le Grand Bornand WikipediaTM Fact(?): The Alpine town's famous sons include: Roddy Darragon, cross-country skier; Christophe Perrillat, cross-country skier; Steve Missillier, skier; Sebastien Baker-Bidoz, er, skier...anyone notice a trend developing?

Thursday 23rd July
Stage 18 Annecy - Annecy  40.5 km Individual Time Trial
Another vital day. The third and last time trial of this year's race follows a route around the town of Annecy's lake, briefly leaving its shores to take in the wonderfully named, category three, Cote de Bluffy.

The Ventoux stage looms large over this time trial, as indeed it has over the whole race. At 40.5 kms, it is short for a final time trial, with the aim of not taking out of contention any of the GC ambitious climbers that may figure on Ventoux.

Stage 18 Map  
28.5 km - Cat. 3 Côte de Bluffy (3.7 km/6 % max)

That said, it is still long enough to cause a shaking up of the GC prior to the race's biggest stage. As for the stage victory, Fabian Cancellara may well fancy his chances of grabbing another win, replicating his time trial win in stage one.

Annecy WikipediaTM Fact(?): For the last 49 years, Annecy has hosted an International Animated Film Festival. In 1962 the Festival's winner was The Flying Man, much will be the same today.

Friday 24th July
Stage 19 Bourgoin Jallieu - Aubenas 178 kms
A hard transition stage across the Ardeche region. There will be a temporary lull in the GC fight and the peloton will be content to let a breakaway go, provided it contains no-one of any danger.

Stage 19 Map 

The breakaway's success may though rest on the situation in the Green Jersey competition. If the situation is tight, the sprinter's respective teams will be obliged to hunt down any breakaway, something they could well do without, after nearly three weeks of hard riding in the legs and the nightmare of Ventoux still to come.

It's a bumpy profile with, two Cat four climbs early on and a particularly tricky category two ascent near the end, which could cause some splits. If the peloton was looking for a restful day ahead of the final weekend of racing, then they haven't got it.

Stage 19 Climbs
6.5 km - Cat. 4 Côte de Culin (2.6 km/5.6 % max)
40.5 km - Cat. 4 Côte de la forêt de Chambaran (3.1 km/6.4 %)
162 km  - Cat. 2 Col de l'Escrinet (14.0 km/4.1 %)

Aubenas WikipediaTM Fact(?): The population density of Aubenas is 769km2. I can't pretend to know what that means and it's not particularly interesting, but it was the best I could find. Which perhaps in itself is a more interesting fact about Aubenas.

..And then comes Mont Ventoux

Stage 20 Map  

Saturday 25th July
Stage 20 Montelimar - Mont Ventoux 167 km
At last it's here. The Queen Stage. The one everyone has been waiting for. The Giant of Provence's monumental shadow has been cast all over this Tour since stage one. This is where the Tour will be won and lost.

If it all goes to ASO's plan we should be in for an historic day's racing. A day that will go down in Tour de France lore, a day that will talked about in the bars and cafés of Europe and beyond for years to come, a day that, in ten years time, everyone will claim to have been there. Simply put, a day that shapes Tour tradition. If it doesn't go to plan it could be just another day on a mountain where the leader rides defensively and no-one has the legs to attack. No, be positive, that's not going to happen......is it?

There are four categorised climbs on the route to Ventoux but they won't count for anything. Nothing will happen, GC wise, on this stage until the riders hit the climb to Mont Ventoux.

Ventoux, a 21 kilometer climb to 1,912 metres, is of course one of the toughest ascents the Tour uses. Coming as it does on the penultimate day and three weeks in, if anyone is on a bad day then huge time can be lost. The famous moon-like terrain at the summit famously reflects heat, meaning energy sapping conditions for the riders to suffer. Simply put, the 2009 Tour is sure to be decided, one way or another, on the slopes of Ventoux

Stage 20 Climbs
14 km  - Cat. 3 Côte de Citelle (5.2 km/3.9 %)
65.5 km  - Cat. 4 Col d'Ey (6.7 km/4.8 %)
87 km -  Cat. 4 Col de Fontaube (4.7 km/4.2 %)
121.5 km - Cat. 3 Col des Abeilles (7.7 km/4 %)
167 km - Hors Category Mont Ventoux (21.1 km/7.6 %)

Mont Ventoux WikipediaTM Fact(?): As the name implies (vent means wind in French), it can get a bit blowy on Mont Ventoux. For 240 days a year it gusts at over 90 km/hr. The peloton will be praying that July 25th will be one of the 125 days when it doesn't.

Sunday 26th July
Stage 21 Montereau - Paris, 164 kms
The Tour of course ends with the largely processional stage into Paris and nine laps of the Champs Elysees. The route into Paris will be notable mainly for the obligatory shots of the Yellow Jersey wearer sipping champagne and cracking jokes, in a peloton with a distinct aura of end of term fever surrounding it.

Stage 21 Map   

Once the stage hits the famous Champs Elysees the joking will stop and the seriousness of contesting the most coveted sprint stage in all of cycling will begin. It's the one all the sprinter's want and the fight for it will be fierce and compulsive viewing.

Champs Elysees WikipediaTM Fact(?): Champs Elysees means Elysian Fields, which in Greek mythology was the place of the blessed dead. It appears then that there is more than one reason why this avenue is an appropriate place to finish the world's toughest professional bike race.

And that's it. Three weeks, 21 stages, 3,500 kilometers, two principality's and five countries, 63 classified climbs, 93 kilometers of time-trialing and one winner. The 2009 Tour is done and dusted. Was it a classic? We'll just have to wait and see.

96th Tour de France - Parcours Preview Part 1
96th Tour de France - Parcours Preview Part 2
96th Tour de France - The Favourites
96th Tour de France - The Sprinters Preview
2009 Tour de France - The Mountains Part 2

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