Tour De France Stage 14: Versus TV and Live Streaming Schedule

The Tour hits the Pyrenees today, and it finally gets serious. The next four days should decide the race with only the Stage 19 individual time trial possibly having any influence after that.

Today’s stage is a 185-km ride from Revel to the winter sport resort at Ax-3 Domaine. For 120km, the stage will be a pleasant ride, but from then on, it gets nasty.

The first climb of the day is the huge slog up the unclassified Port de Pailheres pass. At more than 2000 meters, it is the second tallest peak that the Tour will pass, eclipsed only by the infamous Col de Tourmalet that they will see on both Stages 16 and 17. It is also the highest base to peak climb of the tour at over 1,750 meters.

This will be followed by a tricky descent and then a quiet category-one hill to a plateau finish at Ax-4 Domaine.

It will be a day for the climbers and may well see Alberto Contador try to test yellow jersey holder Andy Schleck as the Astana rider believes he is a superior climber to the Tour leader. It may also be an opportunity for Lance Armstrong to resurrect some pride from his final Tour by securing a stage win.

Stage 14 will further settle the General Classification contenders and eliminate those who don’t really belong. Look for the sprinters to cooperate and form a gruppetto or autobus at the back of the pack to try to stay inside the time limit and avoid exclusion.

The 2010 Tour de France now begins in earnest. It will be fascinating viewing. Sunday's action can be seen live from 7:30 a.m. ET.

You can catch all the action on Versus, available on channel 603 on DirecTV and channel 151 on Dish Network. Check your local cable listings for channel lineups.