Tour de France 2024 Route stage 14: Pau

Tour de France 2024 Route stage 14: Pau - Pla d’Adet

Saturday 13 July - The first stage in the Pyrenees takes the riders from Pau to Pla d'Adet. The finish climb in the mountains above Saint-Lary-Soulan is 10.6 kilometres long and comes with an average gradient of 7.9%.

It’s an anniversary for Pla d’Adet. The mountain was first included in the Tour de France in 1974, so 50 editions ago. That day, Mathieu van der Poel’s granddad, Raymond Poulidor, climbed to triumph on the peak in the Pyrenees. He was succeeded by Joop Zoetemelk (1975), Lucien Van Impe (1976, 1981), Mariano Martinez (1978), Beat Breu (1982) and Zenon Jaskula (1993). The stage winners in 2001 and 2005 – Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie – were erased before the the Pla d’Adet returned in 2014. Rafal Majka soloed to victory from the breakaway.

Following a virtually flat first half of the race, the riders ere to conquer the Col du Tourmalet (19 kilometres at 7.4%) and Hourquette d’Ancizan (8.2 kilometres at 5.1%). At the summit of the latter there are almost 30 kilometres left to race.

Following the drop down the Hourquette d’Ancizan and roughly 10 kilometres the Pla d’Adet appears. The climb serves numerous double digit digits in the first 7 kilometres before it flattens out for 1 kilometre, after which the rest goes up at almost 9% on average. The Pla d’Adet totals 10.6 kilometres and the average gradient sits at 7.9%.

Ride the route yourself? Download GPX 14th stage 2024 Tour de France.