Saturday's first stage in the Pyrenees heads south from Mazamet, the hometown of Laurent Jalabert and climbs out of town via the Cat. 2 nine-kilometre Côte de Saint-Sarraille, across the Montagne Noir massif and the flats of Carcassonne, Limoux and Quillan. From there it will be the steep 17 kilometres of the hors catégorie Port de Pailhères and then the final ascent that finishes atop the stiff 16-kilometre hors catégorie Plateau de Beille.
Coming the day after the tough stage 13 time trial, and with two steep hors catégorie climbs in the final 65 kilometres, stage 14 will definitively separate the pretenders from the contenders for the win in the 2007 Tour de France.
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