TDF 2024:- Stage 15: Loudenvielle – Plateau de Beille, 197.7km ***Spoilers***

Stage 15: Loudenvielle – Plateau de Beille, 197.7km

July 14th.

Start Time: 10-55BST.

Bastille Day comes with a brutal race from Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille. In a race of 197.7 kilometres the riders are to conquer four intermediate climbs before the finish climb kicks in. This is a 15.8 kilometres toil with an average gradient of 7.9%. On their way from Loudenveille to Plateau de Beille in the 15th Tour stage, the riders face a whopping 4,500 meters of elevation gain.

In recent years, the Tour de France goes big on Quatorze juillet. Last year’s stage went to the Grand Colombier (Michal Kwiatkowski won from the breakaway) and two years ago the finish climb was the iconic Alpe d’Huez. This year’s Bastille Day stage traverses the Pyrenees from Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille. Plateau de Beille was first included in the Tour de France in 1998, and Marco Pantani took the win. The last inclusion of the Plateau de Beille in Le Tour was nine editions ago, when it was it was Joaquim Rodríguez who left his breakaway companions behind on the finish climb to solo to victory.

Profile.

Map.

The Climbs.

Col de Peyresourde Cat. 1)

Col de Menté (Cat. 1)

Col de Portet-d'Aspet (Cat. 1)

Col d'Agnès (Cat. 1)

Plateau de Beille (HC)

Final Kilometres.

Plateau de Beille spans 15.8 kilometres and the average gradient sits at 7.9%. There’s no respite for the riders anywhere on this climb – it’s a constant slog at a steady gradient.

What to Expect.

Given the tough start, the breakaway will likely consist of strong climbers. The best among them have a good shot at surviving and battling for victory on the final climb. However, whether the GC contenders will permit them that opportunity remains uncertain. Recent ascents of Plateau de Beille have not had much of an impact on the GC, so hopefully this time and given the date, it will be spectacular.

Loudenvielle

Stage town for the 5th time

Town in Hautes-Pyrénées (65)

Population: 300

LOUDENVIELLE AND CYCLING

In 2020, during the "Covid edition" of the Tour in September, Nans Peters had the greatest day of his career when he broke away on the Port de Balès with Ilnur Zakarin before dropping the Russian, who was not very comfortable to say the least on the descent. The rider from Grenoble had already won a stage of the Giro the previous year. Loudenvielle hosted three other Tour de France stages in its own name between 1997 (when Laurent Brochard won on Bastille Day) and 2007, when victory went to Luxembourger Kim Kirchen after Alexandre Vinokourov was disqualified for doping. In 2003, while Gilberto Simoni won at Le Louron, it was in Loudenvielle that Richard Virenque won his sixth polka-dot jersey and equalled Federico Bahamontes and Lucien Van Impe. The town can also lay claim to the stage won in Val Louron in 1991 by Claudio Chiappucci ahead of Miguel Indurain.

Specialities: Black pork of Bigorre (AOC), Tarbes beans, Wines (Madiran and Pacherenc du Vic Bilh AOC), Barèges-Gavarnie AOC mutton, Onions from Trébons, Gascony hen, Garbure, Foie gras, spit cake...

Pyrenean blueberry pie (Tourte des Pyrénées)

Tourte des Pyrénées is a pastry found throughout the Hautes-Pyrénées. It can be enjoyed at any time of day, for breakfast with jam, as a dessert or as an afternoon snack.

Plateau de Beille

Stage site for the 7th time

Ski resort in Ariège (09) in the commune of Les Cabannes

Population: 360

THE PLATEAU DE BEILLE AND CYCLING

A cross-country ski resort, Plateau de Beille quickly made a name for itself in the cycling world, with five Tour de France finishes in thirteen years. And the climb conquered for the first time in 1998 by Marco Pantani was one of those that crowned champions, as its first four winners (Pantani, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador) donned the Yellow Jersey on the Champs-Elysées. The trend was reversed during the 2011 Tour, when the stage win went to Jelle Vanendert, the first Belgian to win a Tour de France mountain stage since Lucien Van Impe in 1983.

Specialities: delicatessen, zynat (soup), mushrooms, croustade, Tommes d'Ariège, Milla ariégeois (dessert).

Millas Ariégeois

Le Miles is a very popular cake in Ariège. The millas comes from "Milh" which means Millet! Normal, since antiquity it has been prepared from Millet flour, before being replaced by corn flour upon its introduction in Europe. Today millas can be eaten salty or sweet, and prepared in different ways: fried, in a pancake or even in a thick pancake. For several years, millas can be cooked differently, by adding other ingredients, such as fruit.