TDF 2024:- Stage 13: Agen – Pau, 165.3km ***Spoilers***
Stage 13: Agen – Pau, 165.3km
July 12th.
Start Time: 12-30BST.
The Tour moves from Agen to the base of the Pyrenees in the 13th stage. The rolling route is 165.3 kilometres long and features some hills in the final hour of action .Pau is finishing venue on the Tour de France for the 63th time, but the town has also hosted starts, 66 times. The last time that Le Tour finished in Pau was in 2019. It was the heyday of Julian Alaphilippe. Dressed in yellow, the Frenchman stormed to an ITT triumph. The intermediate sprint is at Nogaro, which hosted a stage finish last year.
Profile.
Map.
The Climbs.
Côte de Blachon (Cat. 4)
Côte de Simacourbe (Cat. 4)
Final Kilometres.
![stage-13-route-finale[1].jpg](https://forum.bikeradar.com/uploads/1FCWCMZM5X4W/stage-13-route-finale-5b1-5d.jpg)
![stage-13-profile-finale[1].jpg](https://forum.bikeradar.com/uploads/5P58LRD5MDRH/stage-13-profile-finale-5b1-5d.jpg)
Two climbs that count for the King of the Mountains competition begin the final approach to Pau- Côte de Blachon (1.5 kilometres at 6.9%) and Côte de Simacourbe (1.8 kilometres at 6.4%). But they shouldn’t cause any problems for the fast men, as the summit of the last one is just under 30 kilometres from the finish.
What to Expect.
Chances are that the breakaway will be caught and that the stage will end in a bunch sprint. However, amidst the hilly terrain approaching the finish, the Blachon and Simacourbe climbs could pose a problem for those sprinters who don’t feel comfortable in the hills.
Agen
Stage town for the fifth time.
Prefecture of Lot-et-Garonne.
Population: 32,500
Agen has only hosted the Tour de France on four occasions, and only once for a finish, in 1951, but it remains legendary. The first non-Italian to win the Giro in 1950, Hugo Koblet broke away with 135-km to go and went on to win by a margin of 2:35, despite a furious chase led by favourites Coppi, Bartali, Magni, Bobet, Geminiani and Ockers. The Swiss rider, who had already won the time trial in that year's Tour, made quite an impression: he won two more stages in the Alps and the Pyrenees lead Raphaël Geminiani by 22 minutes in Paris.
Specialities: Agen prunes, floc de Gascogne, tourin (garlic soup), tourtière (apple cake), ceps, salmis de palombe.
Agen prune
Prunes came from China along the Silk Road to Syria. It was the Romans who brought the cultivation and drying of prunes the Agen region. They planted several varieties, including the Saint-Antonin or Maurine plum, a small blue plum that produced a very black prune of small size. Other varieties of Damascus plum were later brought to the Agen from Syria by the Crusaders in the 13th century. The monks of Clairac, by grafting with local plum trees, selected this new variety of Prune d'Ente (in old French "enter" means "to graft"). This new variety, with its thin skin and beautiful mauve-blue colour, is well adapted to the terroirs of the South-West. The resulting new prune is large in size, with delicate flavours and aromas.
Pau
Stage town for the 75th time
Prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64)
Population: 77,700
PAU AND CYCLING
Pau has featured so many times in Le Grand Boucle, that it is impossible to precis it's history.
Specialities: garbure, poule au pot, foie gras, magret and other duck and goose dishes, honey, coucougnettes du Vert Galant (roasted almonds coated in dark chocolate and raspberry marzipan), Verdier chocolates, Francis Miot jams, le Russe (almond cake with praline cream), ossau-iraty (cheese), wines (Jurançon, Madiran, Pacherenc).
The garbure
Garbure is a traditional Gascon dish made with cabbage and chunks of vegetables. It originated in Bearn and is often eaten in Pau. It was not until the mid-20th century that duck or goose confit was added to this essentially rural dish for the poor. Garbure was the daily fare of Gascon peasants. It varied from house to house, depending on the seasons and the resources of the kitchen garden and salt cellar. The principle of the recipe is to cook for a long time an assortment of vegetables and meats, usually preserved. Served as a soup or a main course, garbure can be adapted to suit individual needs.
![garbure-aux-haricots-tarbais-et-porc-noir-de-bigorre[1].jpeg](https://forum.bikeradar.com/uploads/Z1KW8LEYTC5T/garbure-aux-haricots-tarbais-et-porc-noir-de-bigorre-5b1-5d.jpeg)
Comments
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Weather looks like it may play ball. Wind speeds are around 13mph mid stage but gusting to 29mph. Direction isn’t ideal as it will be cross headwind for most of the stage but there’s a section between the sprint and the first climb that would be cross tailwind. which is also pretty exposed. Looks like the strongest gusts we’ve had forecast so far.
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Robbie McEwen did mention the wind strength tomorrow when talking about the prospects of it for Tuesday’s stage into Nimes.
Looking further ahead, even the weather gods are in Vinegar Joe’s favour for next week. Loads of steaming hot sunshine, right up until the dust has settled on the podium presentation.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Agen
Specialities: Agen prunes, floc de Gascogne, tourin (garlic soup), tourtière (apple cake), ceps, salmis de palombe.
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I know tourin as onion (not garlic) soup, whereby, when the soup is almost done, egg yolks are beaten in a bowl, then a little of the soup added and mixed with the beaten yolks. This is then added to the soup without letting the soup come back to the boil (otherwise the yolks will curdle). The soup is served poured over a piece of baked, dry and crisp bread at the bottom of the soup dish (i.e, not with the bread floating on top, like in soupe a l'oignon gratinee).
Supposedly, in rural areas a tureen of this version of onion soup was taken by wedding guests to the bedroom of newly-marrieds a couple of hours after they had retired for the night, to give them fresh strength for the remainder of the night !
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I think there must be regional variations as a quick google of tourin turns up references to both, with garlic being the more common.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Roglic does not start
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Not surprised, I said when he crossed the line I doubted he'd be starting. Good call I think, he'd obviously taken a hit to the head even if there was no other serious damage.
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The reports last night certainly made it sound like it had left him pretty mashed up, so not a surprise
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Danish TV saying there's a good chance of enough wind in the right direction
Who's manning the klaxon?
Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Are we agreed that anyone making a T'Pau pun will be formally excommunicated from the forum?
Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Yep, Meteo also showing 20kph wind speeds gusting to 45kph from the west for Riscle. Road goes SSE just after that so fingers crossed. Just before the lumpier section too so would be a hard chase back.
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What if we put heart and soul into one?
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Exemption requested for the lanterne thread, please? It was a theme I had...
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was going to mention primoz but its been done. Crashes more than Geraint
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Was it a scheme you had too?
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Hadn't even considered it until seeing this, now I'm going to have to think of something.
As a complete aside my best man's sister is married to a member of T'Pau.
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I'm convinced Dani Rowe is reading these thread starters. Keeps mentioning things that have already been raised on here.
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Aren't the thread starters taken from the Official Guide though? So if she has taken them from that then that's where the plagiarism is
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You're all dead to me
Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
No they are not. They come from a number of sources.
The start and finish town info mostly, but not exclusively comes from the official guide.
I don’t think Pross is referring to Dani discussing local cuisine.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
I have no sense of pride, so thank you for goodbye.
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I'm talking more about stuff in the subsequent comments about what might happen rather than the specifics of the stage.
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Early echelons!
Scott Foil RC
Scott Addict RC
Trek Emonda0 -
It’s a frenetic start and clear indications of there being wind.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Stage is already looking promising, the groups going off the front are riding more in echelon form.
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Jayco working hard to close, gap at 35"
Scott Foil RC
Scott Addict RC
Trek Emonda0 -
Not many teams who've missed the break and there's some big names in there.
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