Preview: 2014 Tour de France — Stage 20

Bergerac to Perigueux (54km Time Trial)

Saturday, July 26th 4:10 a.m. – 11:34 a.m. EDT

The one and only time trial in the 2014 edition comes in the penultimate stage. With no team time trial, it will be the last chance for contenders to stake their claim on the Tour podium, now that the climbing specialists have built a lead in the mountains. Tour director Christian Prudhomme said organizers deliberately left this stage until late in the race, with the hope of encouraging the climbers to fight right to the end. Things have gone to plan, as this stage will offer a dramatic battle between Jean-Christophe Péraud, Alejandro Valverde, and Thibault Pinot to see who will earn second and third place behind Vincenzo Nibali. The tough course favors the men in form more than the true specialists in this discipline such as Tony Martin.