Tour De France, 2007, Stage 7 Preview: Bastille Day Celebration in the Alps

For the dozen or so riders with overall title aspirations, the Tour de France begins Saturday on Bastille Day with the first of three consecutive days of mountain stages in the Alps.

The trek toward the snow-capped, jagged peaks unfolds on the France's Independence Day in stage 7 when the cyclists negotiate 197.5 kilometers (122.7 miles) from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand Bornand.

The stage will include four categorized climbs. But it's the category 1 ascent late in the stage where this year's title contenders will for the first time in the 94th Tour severely test their climbing skills.

Fabian Cancellera (CSC) of Switzerland, who has worn the race leader's yellow jersey since winning the prologue July 7, has conceded he will lose the race lead.

In his place, predicted title contenders like Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) of Kazakhstan, German teammate Andreas Kloden, Carlos Sastre (CSC) of Spain, teammate Frank Schleck of Luxembourg, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) of Russia, Oscar Pereiro (Caisse-D'Epargne) of Spain and American Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), among others, could make their first sustained moves of the three-week race.

Kloden and Vinokourov are both recovering from crashes in stage 5 to Autun, so their respective mountain debut abilities are unknown. Other overall contenders, including Christophe Moreau (AG2R-Prevoyance) of France and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) of Australia also must determine if they'll show their talents in the first mountain stage. Or, will they wait for the pendinng more severe stages in the Alps or the three later race mountain stages in the Pyrenees?

Regardless, the immediate concern is Saturday's ascent of the Col de la Colombiere, a 10-mile effort with an average 6.7 percent grade. It concludes about 12 primarily downhill miles from the finish at Le Grand Bornand.

The picturesque finishing city has hosted a stage finale once previously, and it provided two historic Tour moments.