Tour de France 2018: Stage 15 preview

This is another day for the controversial Laurent Jalabert – now a commentator on France Télévisions – to be remembered as the race will pass through his native town of Mazamet before tackling the 12.3km-long Pic de Nore, which in the 1990s was often the decisive climb at the Critérium du Dauphiné – known then as the Critérium International.

The local rider in the Tarn department nowadays is Direct Energie's Lilian Calmejane, who won stage 8 to Les Rousses in his first Tour de France participation last year. Calmejane is a favourite for stage 15, which should be a popular stage given that it's on TV on a Sunday afternoon.

It's another day for a breakaway – arguably even more so than the previous day. Twenty kilometres of false-flat downhill could make the finale very eventful.

The medieval citadel of Carcassonne will offer some of the best helicopter shots at this 105th edition of the Tour de France. Although it's appeared on the race as a stage start in recent years, the last time Carcassonne hosted a stage finish was in 2006, when the stage was won by Yaroslav Popovych. On that occasion, a stunning live light and sound show that night celebrated the Tour's arrival, and remains one of the Tour's best-ever sideshows.