Aldag's prediction was extremely accurate.
In fact, the attacks launched by the other teams came even earlier than he had anticipated.
On July 12th, the thirteenth race day of the Tour de France began.
The riders would travel from Agen all the way to Pau, located in the Pyrenees Mountain Area.
The total distance was 165.3 km, with a total elevation gain of 1,884 meters.
Although this stage was the last flat stage of the second week of the Tour de France, the entire route was actually a series of rolling hills with short, steep climbs.
Between the 116 km and 142 km marks, it even included two Fourth Category Climbs: the Côte de Blachon and the Côte de Simacourbe.
The former was 1.6 km long with an average gradient of 6.1% and a maximum gradient of up to 8.5%.
The latter was 1.8 km long, with an average gradient of 6.5% and a maximum gradient of 7.4%.
