Tour De France, 2007, Stage 7 Preview: Bastille Day Celebration in the Alps

For the dozen or so riders with overall title aspirations, the Tour de France begins Saturday on Bastille Day with the first of three consecutive days of mountain stages in the Alps.

The trek toward the snow-capped, jagged peaks unfolds on the France's Independence Day in stage 7 when the cyclists negotiate 197.5 kilometers (122.7 miles) from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand Bornand.

The stage will include four categorized climbs. But it's the category 1 ascent late in the stage where this year's title contenders will for the first time in the 94th Tour severely test their climbing skills.

Fabian Cancellera (CSC) of Switzerland, who has worn the race leader's yellow jersey since winning the prologue July 7, has conceded he will lose the race lead.

In his place, predicted title contenders like Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) of Kazakhstan, German teammate Andreas Kloden, Carlos Sastre (CSC) of Spain, teammate Frank Schleck of Luxembourg, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) of Russia, Oscar Pereiro (Caisse-D'Epargne) of Spain and American Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), among others, could make their first sustained moves of the three-week race.

Kloden and Vinokourov are both recovering from crashes in stage 5 to Autun, so their respective mountain debut abilities are unknown. Other overall contenders, including Christophe Moreau (AG2R-Prevoyance) of France and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) of Australia also must determine if they'll show their talents in the first mountain stage. Or, will they wait for the pendinng more severe stages in the Alps or the three later race mountain stages in the Pyrenees?

Regardless, the immediate concern is Saturday's ascent of the Col de la Colombiere, a 10-mile effort with an average 6.7 percent grade. It concludes about 12 primarily downhill miles from the finish at Le Grand Bornand.

The picturesque finishing city has hosted a stage finale once previously, and it provided two historic Tour moments.

Lance Armstrong, the now-retired seven-time Tour titlist captured the 2004 stage to Le Grand Bornand over Kloden with a rare sprint victory. In his post-race comments, Armstrong said that during his career he had allowed others to take stage wins if his overall title wasn't in jeopardy. He won the stage in Le Grand Bornand, he said, because he had decided "No more gifts."

During the same stage, Armstrong and former teammate Floyd Landis, the embattled 2006 Tour de France winner, were among the five breakaway riders in the lead nearing the finish. Landis eventually finished fifth in the stage, but with his then first career stage win feasible, Landis and Armstrong talked with about seven miles left in the stage.

According to Armstrong in his post-race news conference, the riders' dialogue was as follows:

Armstrong: "How bad do you want to win a stage in the Tour de France?"

Landis: "Real Bad.''

Armstrong: "How fast can you go downhill?''

Landis: "I go downhill real fast. Can I do it?"

Armstrong: "Sure you can do it. Ride like you stole something, Floyd."

Armstrong went on to win his sixth Tour title a few days later. And two years later, Landis captured his now well-document controversial Tour de France title.