After a rest day in Narbonne, the Tour continues with this shortest road stage of the race. Most will be glad of its brevity because it will be followed by the first long time trial and three tough stages in the Pyrénées. The Cat. 3 climb in the middle of the stage is long, but not particularly steep, while the roads are fairly narrow until the final few kilometers into the heart of Toulouse.

7/17/2003 Start Time: 1:34:00pm
7/17/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:24:00pm

HISTORY
Toulouse was one of the original six stage towns, and there have been 23 finishes here, but only two have ended in the city center in the past 30 years. In 1978, French sprinter Jacques Esclassan took the fifth of his five career stage wins here, while seven years later, another Frenchman, Frédéric Vichot, renowned as the craziest descender of his generation, took the second of his two stages.