Where is the Termières dera Libertat - TDL decided?
On the climb out of Portilhon to Poilanèr, in the first quarter of the race. Kilometre for kilometre, that leg is the hardest of the course, a fifth harder than the average. Most of its climbing comes in one go, on the biggest climb of the race: 768 m in 3.8 km, very steep on average. The rest of the ground is of the same kind. About a quarter of the distance climbs steeply, about as much descends steeply, and almost none of it is flat.
The legs on either side give little back. The first, out of Bossòst, already climbs far more than it drops, so the race opens with a long stretch of climbing up to Poilanèr. At the time-limit pace you reach Poilanèr at one in the afternoon, with more than a quarter of the work done. Just past it the course rises once more, then drops 960 m in 4.2 km towards Artiga de Lin: the biggest descent of the race, and very steep. No leg loses more height than this one.
Half the work is done on the leg to Bassa d’Oles. Straight after that aid station comes the steepest of the big climbs, 561 m in 2.2 km. The longest leg comes later: Horno to Santet Escunhau is 13.5 km with 1,083 m of climbing, the biggest share of the effort and the longest gap between two of the six aid stations. At the time-limit pace you pass Horno at ten past ten on Wednesday night and Santet Escunhau at ten to two.
The finish is downhill. The last big climb rises out of Horno, steep. From its top the course falls almost all the way to Vielha: after Santet Escunhau the final leg barely climbs, loses about 950 m and ends on the steep descent into the finish. This page shows no cut-off along the way, only the time limit, because the cut-offs listed belong to another edition. At an even effort the whole course takes as long as 113 km on the flat; at the time-limit pace you cross the line at half past three on Thursday morning.
Organiser's distances and heights; Pendio's shares and clock.