Race fever hits the villages

I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in Bourg-saint-maurice (BSM) in the French Alps with my windows open and a hot breeze blowing as the thermometer tips 29C. Everywhere we go Tour de France fever has hit the villages and cols and they are bedecked with the yellow, green and polka-dot colours representing the race leaders’ jerseys.

As I write there is still a week until the famous cycle race passes through BSM, but it will be on its way through the Cevennes as you read this.

The race is a real extravaganza and towns and villages along the route become festivals of cycling.

Here in BSM people are already erecting gazebos in their gardens so they can host Tour de France parties and watch the race as they eat and drink. There isn’t a lamp-post, roundabout or wall that hasn’t been decorated in some fashion to celebrate le Tour.

There aren’t any other sporting events quite like it and it seems to have spawned a competitiveness between villages who all seem to be trying to outdo each other by out-decorating each other.

Over the next few days I will be guiding riders over the Col d’iseran, the Galibier and on to Alpe d’huez – all huge mountains, both in terms of their size and the weight of the legend they carry in Tour de France history.

However, our riders are most excited about cycling on two climbs that first featured in the Tour de France in 2015.

With such a young pedigree you would be forgiven for thinking they were incidental climbs among the other giants, but they have become iconic climbs – not for their altitude, length or sheer grandeur, but for their absolute cycling perfection.

The Lacets du Mont Vernier and Col du Chaussy pack a mighty punch when it comes to providing a spectacular ride.

The Lacets in particular, although only a short three kilometres in length, manage to embody everything that is great about cycling into 17 tightlypacked hairpin bends that are carved into the sheer rock face.

I rode this last week and, despite having cycled it several times before, I still got excited as I approached the base and looked up at this road winding above me.

Beyond Mont Vernier the Col du Chaussy climbs steeply towards another rock face where the road has been cut into the side of the mountain.

It then contours around the steep slopes towards another little village, past some open pastures and eventually summits with a delightful little cafe at the top.

For me these two climbs are wonderful.

They have the element of challenge, but also in an increasingly motorised Alps, where the sound of engines constantly accompany your pedal strokes, they have a stillness about them that suits their perfection.

Join the Blazing Saddles Strava Club at: www.strava.com/clubs/ Blazingsaddlesweekendcourier Where to ride: The Lacets du Mont Vernier and Col du Chaussy France, Auvergne-rhône Alpes

Distance: 13km at an average grade of 7.5%

Start: Pontamafrey

Details: Summiting at 1553m the Lacets du Mont Vernier and the Col du Chaussy are not giants among the climbs that tower above them, like the Col de Madeline, but what they lack in height they make up with sheer perfection. The kilometre markers for the Col du Chaussy start in the village of Pontamafrey and start to count down as you make your way up the 17 hairpin bends on the Lacets du Montvernier – a climb that does literally lace its way up a vertiginous rock face. From the village Mont Vernier you turn left on towards the Col du Chaussy summit. From here retrace your route back down or descend to meet the Col du Madeline where you can complete a circular route back to Pontamafrey or climb another 21km to the summit of the Col de Madeline.

Looking down on the Lacets.