{"id":20954,"date":"2013-07-06T23:29:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-06T21:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/tour-de-france-battle-begins-in-pyrenees\/"},"modified":"2013-07-06T23:29:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-06T21:29:09","slug":"tour-de-france-battle-begins-in-pyrenees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/tour-de-france-battle-begins-in-pyrenees\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France battle begins in Pyrenees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t \"Cadel<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Le Tour\u2019s<\/a> two days in the Pyrenees<\/a> will erupt into the final 40km of Stage 8 with the biggest climb of the race.<\/p>\n

The hors cat\u00e9gorie Col De Pailheres peaks at 2001m, which means there\u2019s 5000 Euros and the Souvenir Henri Desgrange on offer for the first rider to summit.<\/p>\n

First raced in 2003 and then in \u201905, \u201907 and \u201910, the Col de Pailheres will really hurt some legs as the first 131km are flat before the climbing begins.<\/p>\n

This Col officially starts at 155km but the road really starts to point up from around the 130km mark.<\/p>\n

As it\u2019ll take a while for most riders to get into a new rhythm, those that adjust more quickly could steal a decisive advantage.<\/p>\n

The first summit finish for the 2013 edition has a maximum pitch of 10.5 percent but averages 8.2 percent.<\/p>\n

This is the third time a Tour stage has finished here. In 2003, Carlos Sastre<\/a> put a dummy in his mouth as he crossed the line in tribute to his baby daughter. Two years later, Gerolsteiner\u2019s Georg Totschnig added his name to the winner\u2019s ledger. – Roar<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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