Tour de France battle begins in Pyrenees MyZA

Cadel Evans of Australia crosses the finish line of the 11th stage of the Tour de France. Photo: AP Photo / Laurent Cipriani

Le Tour’s two days in the Pyrenees will erupt into the final 40km of Stage 8 with the biggest climb of the race.

The hors catégorie Col De Pailheres peaks at 2001m, which means there’s 5000 Euros and the Souvenir Henri Desgrange on offer for the first rider to summit.

First raced in 2003 and then in ’05, ’07 and ’10, the Col de Pailheres will really hurt some legs as the first 131km are flat before the climbing begins.

This Col officially starts at 155km but the road really starts to point up from around the 130km mark.

As it’ll take a while for most riders to get into a new rhythm, those that adjust more quickly could steal a decisive advantage.

The first summit finish for the 2013 edition has a maximum pitch of 10.5 percent but averages 8.2 percent.

This is the third time a Tour stage has finished here. In 2003, Carlos Sastre put a dummy in his mouth as he crossed the line in tribute to his baby daughter. Two years later, Gerolsteiner’s Georg Totschnig added his name to the winner’s ledger. – Roar