STAGE 12
Covering 104 miles on a mostly downhill route from Lavelanet to Narbonne, stage 12 should play out as a day for the sprinters. With only a handful of stages as straightforward as this one, the sprinters' teams will surely not allow powerful riders to race too far ahead of the pack. Those riders who manage to bust ahead will likely see the main pack breathing down their necks on the run-in to Narbonne, a town on the French Mediterranean coast.
The escapees of the day will likely be a small gaggle of riders who are well down in the overall standings. It's on these days that riders are ordered into breaks mostly for increased sponsor exposure and a chance at a fluke stage win.
On day's like these, there's a noble irony to the efforts of the breakaway riders. Their chances of keeping a gap on the main field the whole race is slim. But to ride off the front of the Tour de France peloton for 100-plus miles is no easy feat. So what motivates them? Sponsor exposure? Perhaps. Or maybe these riders still believe, despite the vast and inevitable aerodynamic advantage of the peloton, that the break might survive to the finish. Either way, the next day, those same riders will likely be back in the pack, chasing down another ill-fated breakaway.
MORE TOUR de FRANCE MAPS
Stage 1 |
Stage 2 |
Stage 3 |
Stage 4 |
Stage 5 |
Stage 6 |
Stage 7 |
Stage 8 |
Stage 9 |
Stage 10 |
Stage 11 |
Stage 12 |
Stage 13 |
Stage 14 |
Stage 15 |
Stage 16 |
Stage 17 |
Stage 18 |
Stage 19 |
Stage 20 |
Stage 21
Google Earth Flyover: 2008 Tour de France
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