road.cc Fantasy Cycling: Tour de France stage 18 preview

Last year’s race was all about celebrating the centenary of the Tour first tackling the Pyrenees, and this time it’s the turn of the Alps to be commemorated and in particular the Galibier, which features twice in the 2011 Tour. Today’s summit finish is the highest ever in the Tour, and before that there are two other Hors-Categorie climbs to be tackled, the Col Agnel and the Izoard.

Thought for the Day

Even if nothing much has happened in GC terms in the past two days, that will change this afternoon on a tough stage for tough men. If any escapees made it to the bottom of the final climb, they’re likely to be swept up by the GC group, which moreover will almost certainly be missing a name or two from the morning’s top ten.

GT’s tips

We rode this one too and the Izoard is obviously a tough climb. The GC guys will be okay, but if there's a team that's strong they could potentially do some damage up there and isolate a few people if they need to. The Galibier too is such a tough climb with the altitude too, some people cope with it better than others. It will definitely test everyone.