Preview Stage 13 Tour de France – Pau – Lourdes

The beautiful city of Pau has been visited by Le Tour on 63 previous occasions, is the 3rd most used city by Le Tour de France after Paris and Bordeaux. Pau is famous as the former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre and the birth blace of king Henri IIII. It also had the first Golf club in Continental Europe and the first Rugby club in France.

• Km 43.5 - Côte de Cuqueron – 1.5 km climb to 8.1 % – Category 3
• Km 65.0 - Côte de Belair – 1.0 km climb to 8.4 % – Category 4
• Km 110.0 - Col d’Aubisque (1 709 m) – 16.4 km climb to 7.1 % – Category H

The stage will head west out of Pau before turning south west into the mountains south of the city. The only major difficulty will be the Col d’Aubisque.

There is also the ride across the Cirque du Litor which is a favorite with Le Tour, you don’t want to miss the helicopter shots of this, it is spectacular.

Panoramic view of Cirque du Litor. Click to enlarge.

After the short climb to Col du Soulor it is a 22km decent to Argeles-Gazost follow by 12km flat ride to the finish to Lourdes. A day for a break away.

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Tagged as: 2011, Col d'Aubisque, Col du Soulor, Cycling, Le Tour de France, Tour de France