For anyone ill-acquainted with the Tour de France, the first week must seem a little weird. To be clear: The really real racing starts on Stage 10 this year. Not that everything that happened before now was worthless, but the general classification standings have been tightly packed up to this point, and when the Tour enters the Pyrenees on Tuesday, we might see significant (and potentially insurmountable) time gaps open up. If you were wondering why someone like Nairo Quintana is a favorite to win when he is currently sitting in ninth place, Stage 10 should show you.
Tour de France 2015, Stage 10: Route, TV schedule and more
The Pyrenees welcome the Tour de France on Tuesday with a brutal 1,134-meter climb up to a summit finish.
The final 15 kilometers of Tuesday’s ride from Tarbes to La Pierre-Saint Martin are all uphill. The climb was rated as the sixth-hardest by Podium Cafe out of the 57 categorized climbs in this year’s Tour. If you divert your eyes down to the stage profile below, you can pick it out as the BIG wall-like thing on the right-hand side of the graphic. To reach La Pierre-Saint Martin, riders will have to ascend 1,134 meters at an average gradient of 7.4 percent, with stretches of road tipping 10 percent. The hardest climb of the Tour thus far (Mur de Huy on Stage 3) pales in comparison, rising just 125 meters.
So yeah, the sprinters have had their fun and now it’s time for the climbers to shine. Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen -- Nos. 1 and 2 in the current general classification, respectively -- will be gunning for the stage win, along with Quintana, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. All five should be even more consolidated near the top of the standings when the day is out.
A relatively flat ride until the bottom of the final climb means that the peloton will likely be conservative for much of the day. When it hits those final 15 kilometers, however, expect pandemonium. Froome (the current yellow jersey bearer) and Team Sky are expected to be aggressive. Who responds among his rivals could foretell the battle over the last two weeks.
NBCSN will show the stage live beginning at 8 a.m. ET. Racing will have been underway since approximately 6:30 a.m. Mobile users can tune in using the NBC Sports Live Extra app. Live streaming is also available on laptops, but only for a fee after signing up for NBC's Tour de France web package.
Stage route
Coverage
Coverage begins at 8 a.m. ET. on NBCSN
Announcers: Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen
Mobile: NBC Sports Live Extra app with an appropriate cable subscription
Computer: NBC's Tour de France web package is available for a fee
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