The longest stage of the Tour de France crosses from Belgium back into France. This stage has a classics flavour, with a route through northern France ending in Compiegne, the starting place of Paris-Roubaix. En route, the race will pass through Fontaine au Bois, the hometown of recently-retired Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc.
No cobbles and a single categorised climb 30km from the finish, but it's unlikely to end in anything other than a bunch sprint. Another stage for the sprinters, and we're all hoping that it doesn't end in a pile-up like yesterday's stage to Ghent that saw Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) suffer another nasty fall.
David Millar (Saunier Duval) may have to actively defend his King of the Mountains jersey on the categorised climb if Stefane Auge (Cofidis) decides to go for it up the hill - Millar and Auge both currently have five points apiece in the competition.
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