The final mountain range on this year’s route, the Pyrenees host three stages this time out, with eight climbs to tackle in all – four of which are hors categorie.

Tour de France icons such as the Col du Tourmalet and Hautacam will sort the men from the boys as the punishing three-week race starts to take its toll.

Amateurs, of course, will have the benefit of not having rode into the wind for a team leader for the best part of the previous two-and-a-half weeks though and there are plenty of popular Strava segments begging to be tackled.

With this year’s Etape du Tour following the route of stage 18, over the Tourmalet and up to Hautacam, much of that route has been mapped as segments while the iconic climb of the Tourmalet will be on the bucket list of many a keen cyclist.

The Strava segment, which has been tackled by more than 2,000 people including Team Sky’s Ian Boswell, is 17.8 kilometres long and features an average gradient of seven per cent as it rides to 2,118m.

Shorter climbs to tackle in the Pyrenees include the Tourrens – part of FDJ.fr duo Kenny Ellisonde and Thibaut Pinot’s training route judging on their King of the Mountains times – which features an average gradient of 20 per cent over its 400 metre ascent.

Tour de France 2014: stage 16
Tour de France 2014: stage 17
Tour de France 2014: stage 18