Pau / Peyragudes

Stage 12 - Thursday, July 13th - 214.5 km

< Stage 11 - Stage 13 >

The Stage

The final kilometre will be on the runway of the only airport of the Pyrenees; novel.

A pretty long stage with most of the climbs in the second part; it's likely some none-GC riders will be allowed to escape and win. The GC candidates will be keeping a close eye on each other and taking each other's measure on the Port de Balès and the Peyresourde. Who is going to come out strongest?

Today's winner; Rafał Majka?

Trivia: the Dutch word for "giant" is "reus". We'll see some pretty giant mountains today.

Winner: Romain Bardet

Tour Touristique

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. In 72 B.C. the Roman General Pompey, while on the way back to Rome after a military campaign in Spain founded a Roman colony there. The goal was to defend the passage to the Aran Valley and the Iberian peninsula. The colony was named Lugdunum Convenarum and had reached around 30,000 people at its highest point. It is believed to have been the place of exile from 39 AD of Herod Antipas, with his wife Herodias, under Caligula's orders. In 408 the Vandals sacked the city and forced the peasantry to move to the citadel and in 585 the Burgundians, led by Guntram, entirely razed the site in the course of their pursuit of Gundoald. It would remain deserted for nearly five centuries.

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