Their names trip off the tongue, and multiple pages of Tour de France history and legend have been written on their slopes, but it is altogether uncertain if the combination of the Col d'Aspin, the Col du Tourmalet and the Col d'Aubisque on stage 19 will suffice to make a material difference to the outcome of this year's edition of the race.
With one mountain stage and one time trial remaining before the processional stage into Paris on Sunday, Team Sky's Geraint Thomas holds a lead of 1:59 over Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and 2:31 over his teammate Chris Froome. Already winner of a brace of mountaintop finishes in the Alps, the Welshman secured formal leadership of his Sky team with his performance on the Col du Portet on stage 17 on Wednesday, and his road to final overall victory in Paris now seems a clear one, despite the arduous trek through the Pyrenees to come on Friday.
While the 200km stage offers rather more traditional Tour fare than Wednesday's compact 65km leg to the Col du Portet, the positioning of the day's principal climbs – not to mention the constricting strength in depth of Team Sky – means that stage 19 might not necessarily punch its weight.
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When the Tour visited these parts in 2012, Bradley Wiggins' comments summed up the dearth of romance in Sky's particular vision of cycling. Asked if he feared the Tourmalet and its neighbours, Wiggins was unmoved.
"They all go uphill, they're all on tarmac. It doesn't matter what name is on them – you go up them on a bike. It's just a name, really, at the end of the day," he said then. "Ultimately, it's about going out there and averaging 400 watts climb after climb."
For much of the Tour – indeed, for seven of the past eight Tours – Sky have seemed equally unmoved by the most evocative of surroundings and have remorselessly gone about squeezing the life out of mountain stages by setting a brisk tempo on the front of the peloton to discourage attacks.
The terrain
Fêtes de Bayonne
The stakes
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via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tourmalet-and-aubisque-the-final-hurdles-for-thomas-at-tour-de-france-stage-19-preview
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