Tour De France, 2007, Stage 14 Preview: Welcome to the Pyrenees

Welcome to the Pyrenees. Let the winner of the 2007 Tour de France step forward.

The 14th stage Sunday will take the peloton 197 kilometers (122.3 miles) from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille, and it will mark the first of the race's three demanding mountain stages.

And make no mistake, the trio of climbing stages spread over the next four days, will likely determine the race winner and will also likely "crack" the riders who are currently trying to hold on to their aspirations of arriving in Paris on the final day, July 29.

During Saturday's 13th stage individual time trial, the riders who are likely to finish in the top-five are currently top-10 overall. Here are the current standings:

1. Michael Rasmussen (Denmark) Rabobank, 58 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds .
2. Cadel Evans (Australia) Predictor-Lotto 1 minute behind.
3. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Discovery Channel, 2:31 behind.
4. Andreas Klöden (Germany) Astana, 2:34 behind
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel, 3:37 behind.
6. Andrey Kashechkin (Kazakhstan) Astana, 4:23 behind.
7. Carlos Sastre Candil (Spain) CSC, 4:45 behind.
8. Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spain) Euskaltel-Euskadi, 5:07 behind.
9. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) Astana, 5:10 behind
10. Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg) T-Mobile, 5:29 behind.

Nothing's certain, of course, particularly with a stage that begins with a nasty category 2 effort from the stage start and continues for nearly six miles through the Black Mountains.

Barring crashes or catastrophe, the field will endure the opening effort. But a few hours later, the first of the day's two hors categorie efforts, the Port de Pailheres, arrives. And then the stage concludes with the hors categorie ascent to the finish summit at Plateau de Beille.

Here are the 14th stage's categorized climbs' details:

9 kilometers, Côte de Saint-Sarraille: 9.0 kilometer climb 5.3 percent average grade, category 2.
146.5 kilometers, Port de Pailhères: 16.8 kilometer climb, 7.2 percent, average grade, hors catégorie.
197 kilometers, Plateau de Beille: 15.9 kilometer climb, 7.9 percent average grade, hors catégorie.

The final climb has only been held three time, but its short tenure have provide epic Tour moments that led to both winners continuing on to the overall title.

Marco Pantani, the late Italian rider and last cyclist to win the Tour of Italy and the Tour de France in the same year, won the stage in 1998. Seven-time race winner Lance Armstrong won the stage in 2002 and 2004 en route to his fourth and sixth titles.