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STAGE 17: DAX -- BORDEAUX

Published: Jul. 23, 2003

This is the flattest stage of the Tour and will probably be one of the fastest, with all of the remaining sprinters’ teams anxious to take advantage of one of only two opportunities of success before the final stage into Paris. The stage is made for the sprinters, with long, straight roads through the pine forests of the Landes preceding the dash into the center of Bordeaux.

7/24/2003 Start Time: 12:45:00pm
7/24/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:17:00pm

HISTORY
While this is the most frequent Tour stage town after Paris with 77 finishes, Bordeaux — another of the six original 1903 stopovers — hasn’t seen a stage finish since 1999. For Americans, it has particular significance because this is where, in 1987, Davis Phinney scored the only U.S. victory in a Tour field sprint. (Phinney’s other stage win, the previous year, was from a breakaway group.)