Few stages of the Tour de France will live as long in the memory of Chris Froome than stage seven of the 2012 edition, on which he won his first Tour stage. Its inclusion in the 2014 race, however, comes at the conclusion of a much more demanding stage, where it will appear as the sixth and last of the day’s categorised climbs.

The riders will roll on to the 5.9km climb to the summit finish after 155.5km of racing, and face gradients that average 8.5 per cent and peak at a leg-breaking 20 per cent for the final kilometre. Froome is already talking (confidently, one imagines) of the climb’s capacity to induce greater time gaps than on its last appearance. Expect a battle royale among the climbing specialists and GC contenders (often synonymous in the Tour) with Froome, Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), and the discovery of the 2013 race, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), likely to be among the protagonists.