Nantua / Chambéry

Stage 9 - Sunday, July 9th - 181.5 km

< Stage 8 - Rest Day 1 - >

The Stage

This one is exceedingly nasty and it's not even an Alps or Pyrenees stage... Should one of the GC riders encounter technical difficulties, will the others be chivalrous?

We get seven climbs in total with three of those being Hors-Categorie climbs. The first one will start 3.5 kilometres from the start so expect to see a lot of riders on trainers to warm up before the actual start of the stage. The General Classification can be won or lost here today, all teams will be at battle stations and lieutenants will drop with every next ascent. With so many climbs at the very start there's a real risk of many riders not making it home in time, will we see a general pardon?

This stage a good descent will be just as important as a good climb, especially considering there's a long descent to the finish. Will we see another Froome special? He surprised everyone last year with his amazing descent down the Peyresourde to Bagnères-de-Luchon. The competition knows what to expect now but is there anything they can do about it? Is there where Contador will lose precious minutes?

Winner: Rigoberto Urán

Tour Touristique

The Fontaine des Éléphants ("Elephants Fountain") is the most famous landmark in Chambéry. It was built in 1838 to honour Benoît de Boigne's feats when he was in India. The monumental fountain has strikingly realistic sculptures of the head and forelimbs of four lifesize elephants truncated into the base of a tall column in the shape of the savoyan (savoyarde) cross, topped by a statue of de Boigne. At first, the landmark was mocked by the local residents who were annoyed by it, but it now is accepted as one of the city's symbols. Since the early controversy, the statue kept its nickname of les quatre sans culs, ("the four without arses", which sounds in French similar to the title of the best-known movie by nouvelle vague director François Truffaut: Les quatre cents coups, "The 400 Blows").

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