If having a good night’s sleep is key to doing well in Saturday’s stage 13 time trial of the Tour de France, then the advantage is with the Discovery Channel riders Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer over the other yellow-jersey contenders. The Disco boys are lodged this weekend at a country hotel in the foothills of the Black Mountains about 45 minutes south of the Albi TT start, while their rivals are staying at chain hotels with small bedrooms or in plusher digs in the busy center of Albi.

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

The ones staying at the budget hotels are race leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank and Astana’s Andreas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov (who are all staying at the Campanile in Albi); Predictor-Lotto’s Cadel Evans (at another Campanile in Castres); and Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d’Épargne (who’s at the Kyriad, an even cheaper establishment). Carlos Sastre of CSC and Iban Mayo of Saunier Duval-Prodir both have nicer lodgings, but their hotels are very close to the time trial start, where traffic will be disrupted because of street closures.

Being relaxed and fully prepared is essential for this crucial 54km time trial, which likely will eliminate several of the above nine candidates for overall victory. While Denmark’s Rasmussen has a 2:35 lead on current runner-up Valverde, only 74 seconds cover the next seven contenders: Mayo, Evans, Contador, Sastre, Klöden and Leipheimer. Longer shot Vinokourov has four to five minutes to make up if he is to get back in the picture before the Pyrénées.

One good piece of news for all the contenders is that there will be no danger of dehydration. The hot weather of the past several days has given way to temperatures in the low-70s Fahrenheit, though a 6-mph westerly breeze will be blowing against the riders in the final 25km. The bad news is that some of the later starters might have to ride through a thunderstorm. Vinokourov is starting at 3:24 pm local time, three minutes behind Caisse d’Épargne’s Vladimir Karpets, while the other eight candidates are starting at three-minute intervals between 3:57 p.m. and 4:18 p.m. The likely finish time of the final starter, yellow jersey Rasmussen, is just before 5:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EST).

The course starts on the Rue Hippolyte Savary, on the edge of Albi’s historic center, which is famed for its medieval, redbrick cathedral and sites associated with French painter Toulouse-Lautrec. The looping route is far from simple. An official detailed route inspection revealed 27 “dangerous passages,” nine roundabouts, nine traffic islands, four very narrow sections, two railroad crossings and a number of speed bumps.

The riders leave Albi to the east on long, straight roads, where a slight tail wind will help them on a gradually ascending road to the first time check at Villefranche d’Albigeois (18km). After a further 5km of steady climbing there’s a technical 5km descent, including two switchback turns, to the town of Ambialet (29km). Here, the riders turn left into the wind along the Tarn River valley before turning left onto the day’s main climb (3.4km at an average 4.7 percent grade) to the second time split atop the Côte de la Bauzié (38.5km). The next 12km are mainly downhill on a smooth highway back into Albi. In town, the riders have to negotiate several roundabouts before crossing a bridge over the Tarn to finish on a 1.4km straightway along the Avenue Albert Thomas.

Should the late-afternoon thunder showers materialize, then the stage could be won by one of the earlier starters: Fabian Cancellara (CSC), starting at 12:06 p.m.; David Millar (Saunier Duval), 12:52 p.m.; Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre-Fondital), 1:40 p.m.; Paolo Savoldelli (Astana), 1:50 p.m.; George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), 2:42 p.m.; Jens Voigt (CSC), 2:54 p.m.; or Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel), 2:56 p.m.

Among the stage favorites, Klöden has the advantage of starting three minutes behind Leipheimer, while Evans starts three minutes behind Contador. Klöden has had a harder Tour than the others. He crashed and sustained a fissure of the coccyx nine days ago, and through the Alps he worked hard for injured teammate Vinokourov. If experts such as five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault are correct in predicting that Rasmussen will lose five minutes to the strongest contenders then Saturday night could see either Evans or Klöden in the yellow jersey. If so, then their second nights in their budget hotels will be much more pleasing than the first.