COURSE: This should be the most decisivestage of the opening week on a course that traverses the Chablis wine regionand Morvan hills on its way through Burgundy. It resembles a race likeLiège-Bastogne-Liège and features one Cat.2, three Cat. 3and four Cat. 4 climbs.

The narrow back roads, with their short steep climbs and twisting descents,continue all day, with a twisting 6km descent preceding the finish in Autun.This town of 18,000 has a Roman amphitheatre and a medieval cathedral amongits tourist attractions.

HISTORY: Only one Tour stage hascome to Autun. That was in 1998, on the third-to-last day, when a marathon,mainly flat 242km stage saw a 13-man break arrive 19 minutes ahead of thepeloton. The stage winner was Sweden’s Magnus Bäckstedt, who now racesfor Liquigas.

Stage 5 - Chablis to Autun (182.5km)

FAVORITES: This difficult, hilly stage looks made for classics riders like Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Épargne) Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner), Luxembourg’s Fränk Schleck (CSC) and Italy’s Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-Fondital). Don’t expect to see sprinters like Boonen or Cavendish getting a look in.