- Jun 30, 2022
- 6,620
- 9,980
- 17,180
Great introduction to this stage courtesy of @Devil's Elbow :
Map and profile
Start
Although the town of Albertville was only founded with the merger of two small towns in 1835, the history of those towns is much longer. In the 10th or 11th century, the first of these towns to be established was Conflans, overlooking the modern town and guarding the junction of the roads to Chambéry and Grenoble, to Annecy and Genève, and to the Petit-Saint-Bernard and Italy. On the opposite bank of the Arly river, in the valley, the Knights Hospitaller founded the town of L’Hôpital in the early 13th century. Both towns were part of the Savoie, another of the de facto independent states that emerged from the Kingdom of Arles. However, while the rest of the ex-Arlesian states would either be annexed by France or join the Swiss Confederation, Savoie had a different destiny. Having emerged as a county in 1003, its ruling house proved very adept at exploiting the complex politics of the Middle Ages, and in its first century acquired most of the northern half of the French Alps, and parts of what is now Piemonte. By the time the county was elevated to a duchy in 1416, it had expanded into what is now Switzerland, gained Nice, and enlarged both its Alpine and Piedmontese holdings.
By this point, France had acquired most of the surrounding area, and repeatedly launched invasion wars. Owing to its strategic location, Conflans in particular often saw military action and was occupied by the French on multiple occasions. During this period, Savoie lost its Swiss terrain and moved the capital from Chambéry to Torino. In 1720, the dukes gained control of Sardegna (Sardinia), and as this was a kingdom, their entire holdings were now styled the Kingdom of Sardegna. With the annexation of Liguria upon the kingdom’s reestablishment after the fall of Napoleon, the Kingdom was complete… for now.
Throughout this period, Conflans and L’Hôpital had remained small. Conflans had historically been larger, but after the Knights Hospitaller left in the 17th century L’Hôpital had gradually expanded, surpassing its neighbour in the early 19th century with a grand total of about 1700 inhabitants. It was recognised that this location had more potential, and thus in 1835, the reigning King of Sardegna, Charles Albert, united both towns into a single entity that was named after him: Albertville. In the meantime, French plans to annex the Savoie remained alive, and after another failed invasion in 1848, they hammered out a deal with the Sardinians. In exchange for French military help in the unification (i.e. conquest by Sardegna) of Italy, the prospective Kingdom of Italy would cede Nice and its ancestral lands in the Savoie to France. The agreement was successfully carried out in practice, and after a totally legitimate referendum that saw 99.8% of voters vote for French annexation (the rigging was probably not necessary to get the desired result), Savoie became French in 1860.
Under French rule, the region saw economic growth courtesy of the establishment of what was at its peak the largest steel plant in the country in nearby Ugine. Albertville itself grew slowly at first, until the rapid growth of mountain tourism after the Second World War meant that the town’s geographic potential was fully realised. It never became a major touristic destination in its own right, but serves as one of the main bases for the French Alps. In 1992, it hosted the Winter Olympics. The Tour first visited in 1998, when Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani broke away from the field on Madeleine and stayed clear in the valley. After this stage, it has only been used as a stage start, with this being the seventh such appearance since 2012. Unlike on any of those stages, the town might be able to cheer on a local rider, as EF’s Alex Baudin was born here.
Albertville, with Conflans in the background (picture by Florian Pépellin at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
This stage features the earliest intermediate sprint I can remember, coming after just eight kilometres in the town of Ugine.
The final kilometre before the sprint is also the first kilometre of the first climb of the day, Côte d’Héry-sur-Ugine. Although not exactly a brutal climb, it does make for the first uphill stage start since stage 10.
The one good thing about this stage is that, aside from these first 7 kilometres and the run-in to the MTF, there is no flat to speak of. As such, the short descent chains perfectly with the next climb, Col des Saisies. We are not doing the usual northern ascent, but instead the harder one via Crest-Voland.
After descending into Beaufort, known for its cheese, the route heads out of the valley almost immediately for the testing (albeit arguably overcategorised) ascent of Col du Pré. This climb doesn’t have much of a descent, and after a rolling section along the reservoir the road ramps up again, albeit less steeply, for the final section towards Cormet de Roselend. The profile below shows both.
Finish
The ensuing descent is the most technical one of the day – recall Tom Dumoulin attacking here in 2018. It brings the riders into Bourg-Saint-Maurice, gateway to Italy since Roman times. The next 15 kilometres are spent heading down the Tarentaise valley, and then it’s time for the last big climb of this Tour. With the final 5 kilometres being the easiest of the climb, the waiting game is a bad option here, so at least in that sense this is not the worst final MTF they could have picked. It is also important to point out that, as always, they are finishing just short of the actual summit, after 19.4 kilometres of climbing.
La Plagne is another of the main French ski resorts, having been first established in 1961. Since then, it has expanded to ten stations (with an eleventh on the other side of the mountain in a different valley). The one we are finishing in, Plagne Villages, was completed in 1972 and is the second-highest. In 1991, a bobsleigh and luge track was opened for the 1992 Winter Olympics, this remains France’s only surviving venue and as such regularly hosts World Cup events. The Tour finished here five times between 1984 and 2002 (notably including the 1995 stage where Alex Zülle won after a huge solo, Miguel Indurain ground everyone into dust and half the Lotto team OTLd), but since then it has only hosted the 2021 Dauphiné stage that was the first act of Mythical Mark Padun Weekend.
If you draw a line straight down from the mountain in the middle of the picture and look where it intersects the topmost road, then you’ve found the finish (picture by DimiTalen at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
Only the desperate will consider attacking before the final climb, and I’m not sure we’ll have GC gaps that can be overturned on a standalone MTF…
Stage 19: Albertville – La Plagne (129.9k)
The final mountain stage, and almost certainly the last roll of the dice. As we all know, the best way to design such a stage is to have the last climb be the hardest of the day, the second-last be the easiest, and to put 15 kilometres of valley between them. So naturally, that’s exactly what ASO did.Map and profile
Start
Although the town of Albertville was only founded with the merger of two small towns in 1835, the history of those towns is much longer. In the 10th or 11th century, the first of these towns to be established was Conflans, overlooking the modern town and guarding the junction of the roads to Chambéry and Grenoble, to Annecy and Genève, and to the Petit-Saint-Bernard and Italy. On the opposite bank of the Arly river, in the valley, the Knights Hospitaller founded the town of L’Hôpital in the early 13th century. Both towns were part of the Savoie, another of the de facto independent states that emerged from the Kingdom of Arles. However, while the rest of the ex-Arlesian states would either be annexed by France or join the Swiss Confederation, Savoie had a different destiny. Having emerged as a county in 1003, its ruling house proved very adept at exploiting the complex politics of the Middle Ages, and in its first century acquired most of the northern half of the French Alps, and parts of what is now Piemonte. By the time the county was elevated to a duchy in 1416, it had expanded into what is now Switzerland, gained Nice, and enlarged both its Alpine and Piedmontese holdings.
By this point, France had acquired most of the surrounding area, and repeatedly launched invasion wars. Owing to its strategic location, Conflans in particular often saw military action and was occupied by the French on multiple occasions. During this period, Savoie lost its Swiss terrain and moved the capital from Chambéry to Torino. In 1720, the dukes gained control of Sardegna (Sardinia), and as this was a kingdom, their entire holdings were now styled the Kingdom of Sardegna. With the annexation of Liguria upon the kingdom’s reestablishment after the fall of Napoleon, the Kingdom was complete… for now.
Throughout this period, Conflans and L’Hôpital had remained small. Conflans had historically been larger, but after the Knights Hospitaller left in the 17th century L’Hôpital had gradually expanded, surpassing its neighbour in the early 19th century with a grand total of about 1700 inhabitants. It was recognised that this location had more potential, and thus in 1835, the reigning King of Sardegna, Charles Albert, united both towns into a single entity that was named after him: Albertville. In the meantime, French plans to annex the Savoie remained alive, and after another failed invasion in 1848, they hammered out a deal with the Sardinians. In exchange for French military help in the unification (i.e. conquest by Sardegna) of Italy, the prospective Kingdom of Italy would cede Nice and its ancestral lands in the Savoie to France. The agreement was successfully carried out in practice, and after a totally legitimate referendum that saw 99.8% of voters vote for French annexation (the rigging was probably not necessary to get the desired result), Savoie became French in 1860.
Under French rule, the region saw economic growth courtesy of the establishment of what was at its peak the largest steel plant in the country in nearby Ugine. Albertville itself grew slowly at first, until the rapid growth of mountain tourism after the Second World War meant that the town’s geographic potential was fully realised. It never became a major touristic destination in its own right, but serves as one of the main bases for the French Alps. In 1992, it hosted the Winter Olympics. The Tour first visited in 1998, when Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani broke away from the field on Madeleine and stayed clear in the valley. After this stage, it has only been used as a stage start, with this being the seventh such appearance since 2012. Unlike on any of those stages, the town might be able to cheer on a local rider, as EF’s Alex Baudin was born here.
Albertville, with Conflans in the background (picture by Florian Pépellin at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
This stage features the earliest intermediate sprint I can remember, coming after just eight kilometres in the town of Ugine.
The final kilometre before the sprint is also the first kilometre of the first climb of the day, Côte d’Héry-sur-Ugine. Although not exactly a brutal climb, it does make for the first uphill stage start since stage 10.
The one good thing about this stage is that, aside from these first 7 kilometres and the run-in to the MTF, there is no flat to speak of. As such, the short descent chains perfectly with the next climb, Col des Saisies. We are not doing the usual northern ascent, but instead the harder one via Crest-Voland.
After descending into Beaufort, known for its cheese, the route heads out of the valley almost immediately for the testing (albeit arguably overcategorised) ascent of Col du Pré. This climb doesn’t have much of a descent, and after a rolling section along the reservoir the road ramps up again, albeit less steeply, for the final section towards Cormet de Roselend. The profile below shows both.
Finish
The ensuing descent is the most technical one of the day – recall Tom Dumoulin attacking here in 2018. It brings the riders into Bourg-Saint-Maurice, gateway to Italy since Roman times. The next 15 kilometres are spent heading down the Tarentaise valley, and then it’s time for the last big climb of this Tour. With the final 5 kilometres being the easiest of the climb, the waiting game is a bad option here, so at least in that sense this is not the worst final MTF they could have picked. It is also important to point out that, as always, they are finishing just short of the actual summit, after 19.4 kilometres of climbing.
La Plagne is another of the main French ski resorts, having been first established in 1961. Since then, it has expanded to ten stations (with an eleventh on the other side of the mountain in a different valley). The one we are finishing in, Plagne Villages, was completed in 1972 and is the second-highest. In 1991, a bobsleigh and luge track was opened for the 1992 Winter Olympics, this remains France’s only surviving venue and as such regularly hosts World Cup events. The Tour finished here five times between 1984 and 2002 (notably including the 1995 stage where Alex Zülle won after a huge solo, Miguel Indurain ground everyone into dust and half the Lotto team OTLd), but since then it has only hosted the 2021 Dauphiné stage that was the first act of Mythical Mark Padun Weekend.
If you draw a line straight down from the mountain in the middle of the picture and look where it intersects the topmost road, then you’ve found the finish (picture by DimiTalen at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
Only the desperate will consider attacking before the final climb, and I’m not sure we’ll have GC gaps that can be overturned on a standalone MTF…
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram