Alberto Contador says that he's "pleasantly surprised" at the difficulty of the only summit finish in the Pyrenees in this year's Tour de France. Contador has completed a reconnaissance mission to the mountains in Andorra, particularly the Stage 7 climb to Ordino-Arcalís, which he had been told was not challenging.

“They told me that the summit was so easy that when I saw it I was pleasantly surprised,” he said happily.

Contador, accompanied by Benjamin Noval, one of his trusted gregarios, climbed to the summit twice last Tuesday, taking advantage of good weather in Andorra. Due to rain on the following day, he opted to postpone a study of the next stage, preferring instead a third and final climb of Arcalís in order to finish mapping all the details of the ascent.

“It’s a more suitable climb for my characteristics that La Rabassa or Pla de Beret. Nothing difficult happens earlier in the stage, but we’ll arrive at the bottom with 200 kilometers in our legs and it will take a toll on our strength; so will the fact that it’s the seventh stage of the race and the first rest day is yet to come,” commented Contador.

The Tour hasn’t been back to this scene since 1997, the year in which Jan Ullrich staged a solo exhibition which won him the day and heralded his triumph in the final general classification. In the Vuelta a España, Chava Jimenez won a cronoescalada (a climbing time trial) here in 2000, and victories by Mancebo (2005) and Menchov (2007) give some idea of the demands of this climb. Contador expects to arrive there “after a very fast stage.”

“Depending on who has designs, and how fast it gets, there’ll be many who’ll leave here with some paydirt in the form of seconds, although it won’t be a day to win the Tour,” explained Contador.

Contador has memorized all the details of this mountain: “After passing Andorra la Vella, the road goes up with a vengeance. Although there are some chances for relief that allow for recuperation, this first section will be really fast until El Serrat, about 9.5 km from the summit. That’s where the real climb begins.

"From here, the first kilometers maybe are the hardest, until the tunnel, which is situated at  five kilometers from the line. From here on, the road is a succession of switchbacks which, while they don’t have much percentage, the altitude will make harder. The last four kilometers are over 2,000 meters, and many of the riders will pay. It’s a pretty good mountain for a climber,” he said.

Although this time the weather conditions prevented exploring the Col de Envalira and going as far as the Tourmalet, which occurs two days after Arcalís, Contador doesn’t count out making another trip to finish reviewing the 2009 Tour routes through the Pyrenees.  Then he aspires to take the start in Monaco having done the best preparation possible.