Valverde leads Tour hopefuls at Route du Sud

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde heads a strong field that will gather in Lectoure in south-west France on Friday for the 38th edition of the Route du Sud. The three-day event, traditionally the last stage race before the Tour de France, features two tough days in the Pyrenees, including a summit finish at Val Louron, the penultimate climb on Tour stage 17 to Pla d’Adet.

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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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