The 2014 Etape du Tour sportive will take place on Sunday July 20 over stage 18 of the Tour de France.
Following the announcement of next year’s Tour de France route, which will include 50.4km of cobbles and five summit finishes, ASO, organisers of the race and the sportive, have confirmed the Etape will see thousands of amateur riders tackle the 148km route from Pau to Hautacam.
The back-loaded stage will open with a rolling start which only serves as an aperitif before the ascent of the one of the most fabled climbs in the Tour’s history, the Col du Tourmalet, which rises for 17.1km at 7.3 per cent to 2,115m.
The subsequent descent will then roll straight into the second and final major climb, the summit finish to Hautacam at 1,520m, which is conducted at an average gradient of 7.8 per cent for 13.6km.
The sportive will take place four days before Chris Froome et al will tackle the same stage, on Thursday July 24, giving Etape riders the opportunity to stay in the region to watch the race.
More than 11,000 riders started the 2013 Etape, including RoadCyclingUK’s George Scott, who wrote about his experience in cycling’s most famous sportive here.