This is the first major mountain stage of the 2008 Tour, but it won’t be decisive like those that have mountaintop finishes. It is a long, six-hour stage, featuring seven categorized climbs, though the first five are all Cat. 4s and 3s with long, flat valley roads in between them. The serious stuff begins with 70km of the 224km still to go. Leaving the city of Luchon, the peloton heads west into the high Pyrenees, crossing the Col de Peyresourde (5,147 feet) and Col d’Aspin (4,885 feet), both Cat. 1s with more than 12km of serious uphill work. With 26km of downhill and flat roads from the last summit to the finish in Bagnères-de-Bigorre (population 9,000), expect the leaders to regroup before the finish.