La Mure Serre Chevalier

A huge Alpine stage, with four very tough climbs, culminating in the high point of the race: the Col du Galibier

Here we go: the Alps. The first stage of the final mountain range gets going in La Mure, a modest town south of Grenoble whose claim to fame is being the penultimate stop on the Route Napoléon. The stage heads east, further into the Isère département before turning north for the cattwo Col d’Ornon. The Ornon is the gateway to the classic Alpine terrain of the Tour. To the northwest is the magnificent Belledonne Massif, with its hydroelectric dams. To the east: the peaks and ski complexes of Alpe d’Huez on the Grandes Rousses massif. The Alpe isn’t on the agenda, though this stage does visit two behemoths. The first is the Col de la Croix de Fer, via the western ascent which it shares, for the most part, with the Col du Glandon. Despite a couple of downhill sections offering some reprieve, it’s a hard climb, and at 24km it’s long. Its gradient also varies and the 5.2 per cent average includes those descents and veils long sections at nine, 10, even 11 per cent. And that’s just an horscategorie hors d’oeuvre to a very indigestible main course, an ascent of the Col du Galibier via the Télégraphe. From the bottom in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to the top of the Galibier, the roof of the Tour at 2,645m, is 35km of upward progress. The Télégraphe KoM and the 3km descent thereafter means they’re separate beasts, but there’s barely time to catch breath between them. This will be the first ascent of the Galibier since 2011 - the longest fallow period in the climb’s history. It was due to be used in 2015, but a landslide meant the race was re-routed over the Croix de Fer. After a quite technical 8km descent to the junction with the top of the Lauteret, it’s almost arrow straight on the schuss to Serre Chevalier.