The favorites risk being explained just before the day off.
The program of this 9 th 153 km stage which connects Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) to Laruns (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) this Sunday lends itself to this (departure 12:15 pm, arrival expected around 4:30 pm).
Climbing the Hourcère pass and especially Marie-Blanque, 18 km from the line, will give them choice percentages.
Marie-Blanque, beautiful and hard at the same time
The Marie-Blanque pass, a link between the Aspe and Ossau valleys, has been climbed 15 times in the Tour de France.
Pedro Delgado, in 1986, Lucho Herrera in 1987, Richard Virenque in 1992, in particular, signed some exploits there.
The Varois, for his first Tour at 22, even donned the yellow jersey at the end of the stage which reached Pau.
The last four kilometers of the pass have passages at 12 or 13%.
An ideal ground for an attack.
Pau on the podium
This 72nd stage in Pau, the 7th consecutive since 2014 after an absence in 2013, places Pau in the rank of 3rd city most often host of the Tour, after Paris (142) and Bordeaux (81).
This year, a tribute will be paid to the Italian rider Felice Gimondi, winner of the 1965 Tour, who died on August 16, 2019. His totem pole will be highlighted at the Tour des Géants, an open-air museum entirely dedicated to the Tour de France.
Laruns smiles at Roglic
The city of Bearn, located at the foot of the mountain, starting from the Col d'Aubisque, has only once hosted a Tour de France finish.
It was two years ago and the winner was named… Primoz Roglic.
The Slovenian won ahead of the Welshman Geraint Thomas (Sky), yellow jersey, and Romain Bardet (AG2R).
Roglic finished in fourth place overall in Paris.