Preview: 2015 Tour de France — Stage 14

Rodez to Mende (178.5km)

Saturday, July 18 | 6:45 a.m. EST – 11:15 a.m. EST

Stage 14 will look superb: ASO has included as many panoramas as possible over the gorges of the Tarn. As for the riders, they will enjoy their own feast: hills, false flats, and lots of accelerations will be required. It’s ideal terrain for breakaway riders who can get over climbs. The final climb in Mende is a steep ascent of the Croix Neuve: 3.1km at an average gradient of just over 10 percent. Five years ago, just after the breakaway riders had been reeled in, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) dropped yellow jersey Andy Schleck.