Tour de France Stage 9 profile - Route, weather, schedule: everything you need to know

Point of departure: Pau
Point of arrival: Laruns
Distance: 154km
Departure time: 12:35
Arrival time: 16:40
Type: Mountains

A second day in the Pyrenees begins in the town that has featured more than any other (aside from Paris) in the Tour de France.

The peloton leaves Pau for a largely flat opening 50km, but the prospect of three significant climbs in the remainder of the stage means the early pace is unlikely to be slow.

The Col de la Hourcere is followed by the short yet sharp Col de Soudet midway through the stage.

Yet it is the Col de Marie Blanque, which comes inside the final 30km, that will likely pose the most significant questions. The 7.7km climb has an average of 8.6%, but the final 4km of that climb stay almost consistently in double figures and could see a shake-up in the GC.

A steep descent into Bilheres precedes a 6km dash to the finish.

The conditions in the Pyrenees are famously tricky to predict, but the forecast does suggest chances of rain and possibly even a slim chance of a storm during the afternoon.

The Tour de France will be available to watch live and in full on Eurosport 1 and online as a live stream on the Eurosport Player streaming platform.

The coverage will feature Bradley Wiggins as an expert analyst throughout the Tour de France, and a new addition to Eurosport’s cycling coverage will be interviews and analysis from Bernie Eisel.

The Breakaway, a post-stage review show will be available to watch online after each Tour de France stage on the Eurosport Player streaming platform and the GCN App.

The Bradley Wiggins Show podcast will continue throughout the Tour, with 10 full episodes released across the three weeks.

Next: Everything you need to know about Stage 10

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts