Tour De France, 2007, Stage 18 Preview: Paris is on the Horizon, Thank Goodness

There are three riding days to Paris and the end of the 2007 Tour de France. And it's a safe assumption, the peloton can't wait.

Via injury, illness and disgrace, only 141 of the starting field of 189 in London on July 7 remain. That's about 75 percent of the original field, and weary and frustrated those still left will face stage 18 of the 20-stage race Friday.

The field will ride 211 kilometers (131 miles) from Cahors to Angouleme on another rolling, scenic route through the Dordogne region on a northwest trek toward Paris.

Like Thursday's stage, the 18th stage has several categorized climbs, all in the first third of the course. And also like the 17th stage, none of the ascents are seriously challenging. The final 140 kilometers (87 miles) to the finish in the center of Angouleme, the market town and the capital of the Charente region, are flat.

Here are the details of climbs in the 18th stage:

Km 15: Côte de Salvezou: 1.3 km climb, 6.5 percent average grade, category 4.
Km 24: Côte de Lavercantière: 1.2 km climb, 5.9 percent average grade, category 4.
Km 39.5: Côte de Saint-Martial-de-Nabirat: 1.5 km climb, 4.3 percent average grade, category 4.
Km 70.5: Côte de Saint-Cyprien: 2.8 km climb, 4.9 percent grade, category 4.

Angouleme has only once hosted a Tour de France stage finish. In 1975, Francesco Moser of Italy, riding his first Tour, surprised the field with an uphill attack in the final half-mile and barely held off Belgian sprinters Rik Van Linden and Walter Godefroot.

With the overall top-three places already likely determined, Saturday's final individual time trial will just determine the order in which the accolades will be bestowed after the race final Sunday.

As such, overall title contenders will hopefully just cruise along safely in the main field while one-day specialists go for it in the 18th stage, If there's not a sustained breakaway, the race's remaining sprinters will again try to find their way to the front for another high-speed assault in the final few hundred meters.