Not every stage of the Tour de France involves strenuous climbs or finishes in the rarefied air of a ski station.

And that will be the scenario for three straight days beginning with the 12th stage of the 2008 Tour de France on Wednesday, July 17. Call them the “dog days” of the Tour.

The field, now 166 riders from the starting field of 180 in Brest on July 5, will ride 168.5 kilometers (104.6 miles) from Lavelanet to Narbonne.

The stage will progress through the foothills of the Pyrenees. It’s a rolling west-to-east route and with only one category 4 climb, stage 12 is probably the flattest stage of this year’s race.

The lack of strenuous climbs will likely again mean overall race contenders (seven riders, including race leader Cadel Evans of Australia, are all within two minutes) will ride in the main field amid the protection of teammates.

But that doesn’t mean the stage will be easy. As the Tour advances toward three stages in the A
lps, it’s traveling toward the Mediterranean and that means warm weather and periodic strong crosswinds.

The flat course will prompt high speeds. It may look like the peloton is rolling across the terrain with ease. But there will be plenty of strategy and teamwork in the mix.

Six Tour de France stages have finished in Narbonne, but the last one was 53 years ago. On that day, Louis Caput, competing for a regional French team, out-sprinted a 15-rider breakaway group that finished seven minutes ahead of the main field.

Unless a lower-ranked rider in the overall standings takes a flyer and stays away, look for the race’s sprinting specialists to find their way to the front in the final kilometer or so in Narbonne’s city center.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia) of Great Britain has won two sprinting stages and will look for a third. Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) of Australia is a powerful sprinter who has won 12 Tour de France stages in his now-13 Tour appearances. But he’s been quiet this year, with only two top-10 stage finishes to date and nothing higher than fifth