It is without doubt the hardest and toughest climbing stage in the Alps.

With Cadel Evans in yellow, the big question for me will be how his BMC Racing team-mates will go about controlling the stage.

When you throw in two category one climbs to the top of the Col de la Colombiere inside the first 40kms of this 204.5km stage, then the equally daunting Col des Saisies at more than 1,600m above sea level, this stage is shaping up as a real back-breaker.

I've ridden to the top of the Madeleine more than once.

It is punishing and totally unforgiving. It will take even the strongest of climbers the best part of an hour to cover the final 25kms.

This is no doddle.

There's no question in my mind the riders will fully test their pain threshold.

The stage layout tells me this is not made for a zippy attack from the likes of an Andy Schleck from Saxo Bank or an Alberto Contador from Astana, the two biggest threats to Evans' staying in yellow at the end of the day.

It has the makings of some of the lesser lights, not considered as serious threats to the overall classification to come out and play, dance on the pedals and have a crack at stage glory.

I wouldn't discount Lance Armstrong from Radioshack’s chances here either, now that he's no longer in the frame for the maillot jaune, after the horrors of Sunday’s stage when he crashed three times, to show us he's still got the legs for the big mountains.

There are others in this peloton who could also figure at the business end of the stage, riders like Rabobank's Robert Gesink and Denis Menchov, Liquigas' Roman Kreuziger, Cervelo's Carlos Sastre and Michael Rogers of HTC-Columbia.

Rogers is riding a smart race, very much under the radar and at 2mins 31secs. behind Evans, his chances of the stage win shouldn't be discounted.

He's comes to the Tour in arguably the best form of his career, having won the Tour of California.

The key for the likes of Evans, Rogers and the climbers to survive the torture that lies ahead for them on the climb to the Madeleine is to eat and drink constantly.

It will be important they don't physically implode today as they face another day in the Alps tomorrow.

Once they scale the top of the last climb, they then face a sharp 13km descent to the finish at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

The downhill finish is tricky and it will be fast, very fast.

That's why I don't really fancy the chances of a Menchov or a Sastre for the stage, as they are noted great downhill racers.

In the end it would be nice to think that Evans can hang on to the yellow, providing he gets the right protection from the likes of team mates George Hincapie and Steve Morabito.

On a more sombre note, it is sad to see Victorian Simon Gerrans’ Tour is over, after x-rays confirmed he had broken an arm.

It simply just wasn’t his tour this year.

But I know he’ll bounce back, stronger and better than ever.

*Scott Sunderland rode the Tour de France twice in a 15 year career before turning his hand to team management at CSC, Cervelo and Team Sky.