Tour de France 2012: Stage 18 preview
Stage 18
Date: Friday July 20
Start: Blagnac
Finish: Brive-la-Gaillarde
Length: 222.5km
Type: Flat/hilly
While expectations are for a controlled stage ahead of tomorrow's final time trial, a break of lowly-placed riders may be given some freedom.
Four third and fourth-category climbs may see the battle for the polka-dot jersey finalised along the road north to Brive, if it has not already been determined in the Pyrenees.
The Côte de Lissac-sur-Couze, which comes in the final 10km, is unlikely to be tough enough to unsettle the sprinters who have survived the mountains, so we think the peloton will reach the walled town of Brive, one of the heartlands of French rugby, intact.
Related links
Tour de France 2012: Coverage index
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