Yesterday the 2010 Tour de France route was unveiled. The focus of attention for the race is the 100 year celebration of the first time the race went through the Pyrenees. And looming larger than any other climb on the roster due to its place in Tour history is the Col du Tourmalet.

At 2115m it’s the highest road pass in the Pyrenees, and the Tour organisers have laid down a challenge by including the mountain twice in the race. First on stage 16 and then again on stage 17, following a rest day, where the Tourmalet will be used for a stunning mountain-top finish.

And it is this stage that the organisers of the Etape du Tour have cherry picked for the 2010 Etape. The 174km stage begins in Pau and the 9500 riders will warm their legs up first on the 1035m Col de Marie-Blanque and 1474m Col du Soulor, before the 2115m Col du Tourmalet mountain-top finish . There’s about 4000m of climbing all in, making it surely an epic day in the making.

It’s 100 years since Frenchman Octave Lapize reached the summit of the Tourmalet first in 1920, and went on to take the yellow jersey at the finish. There’s a memorial to Lapize at the summit too, which the Tour has now passed over 73 times – making it the most frequently climbed mountain in the race. In 1974 Jean-Pierre Danguillaume won the first summit finish here.

Once Etape riders have crossed the summit, there will be a short 4km decent to the event village in the La Mongie ski station.

More at www.letapedutour.com/2010/ETDT/presentation/us/index.htm