Stage 7 Video Preview - Welcome to the Mountains

The first mountain stage of the 2010 Tour de France.

This stage is an "amuse bouche" (appetizer) for the Alps. You can clearly see in Ted's map (here) that the route moves from flat terrain into the mountains.

But the Alps are stage 8, these are the Jura mountains (think Jurassic). The stage has six climbs, each generally a little harder than the previous. Nothing too steep, but almost 60 kilometres of categorized climbing – no joke. Once the hills arrive – it’s pretty much either up or down until the finish.

Video after the jump.

And make no mistake:  THIS IS A MOUNTAIN TOP FINISH!  The final climb is not too steep, and flattens out for the last 3 kilometres - but it's 14kms uphill at the end of a tough stage.

While GC guys battle it out at the top, I expect all the sprinters to be chatting away in the auto-bus at the bottom of the climb.

The route finishes in the department of Franche Comté. The neighboring department of l’Ain – think Tour de l’Ain – is full of huge Jura climbs including some Hors Categorie Cols.   In fact, Col de la Croix de la Serra appeared in the 2009 TdL.

As I said in the video, the highlight of the stage is the final climb "Côte de Lamoura".  The first half goes up through the beautiful Gorges du Flumen.  Then climbs out of the Gorges via the fun Lacets de Septmoncel (do you remember your French lessons?  Lacets = Hairpins).  There should be some great helicopter shots here.

Le Saut du Chien in the video gets it name from an old local legend.  A dog was being chased by several ferocious beasts and supposedly leapt across the wide gorge and waterfall to escape certain death.

I'll be somewhere on the last climb with my wife and several friends.   Look out for the PdC jersey. 

Enjoy the stage.