COURSE: Not a mountaintop finish, but this stage features five difficult Pyrenean climbs, including one new to the Tour, the frightening hors categorie Port de Balès. This is a very narrow, twisting 19km uphill, with the last 10km having an average grade of almost 10 percent and a maximum pitch of 14 percent. It precedes the 10.5km climb of the Col de Peyresourde just before the last, fast downhill to the finish.

HISTORY: Two stages of the Tour have terminated at Loudenvielle. In 1997, Frenchman Laurent Brochard escaped from anelite group on the descent into Val Louron to finish 14 seconds ahead of teammate Richard Virenque, Italian Marco Pantani and German Jan Ullrich.

In 2003, Italy’s Gilberto Simoni took the win in a tight sprint with Swiss rider Laurent Dufaux and Virenque, while sixth-placed Vinokourov went within seconds of taking Armstrong’s yellow jersey after a sizzling attack over the Peyresourde. FAVORITES: This is perfect terrain for another battle royal between the GC contenders, although a long-distance breakaway has a good chance of succeeding. Potential winners of the stage include Fränk Schleck (CSC), Tadej Valjavec (Lampre) and Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis).