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Tignes
165 km
Sunday 15 July
"This will be a short but very tense stage. From the outset, the peloton will have to pass a first small hill before, from 75 kilometres out, tackling the Cormet de Roseland (19 km at 6%), the Montée de Hauteville - the start of the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard - and the climb up to Tignes (18 km at 5.5%) for a very difficult finish. By the evening in Tignes, the favourites will have made themselves known."
Tignes - 165 km
In the heart of the Aravis Mountain range, ideally located between Mont-Blanc, the Annecy Lake and Geneva, Le Grand-Bornand combines all the advantages of a ski resort with the charm of a traditional mountain village. The town is on two levels: Le Grand-Bornand Village at 1,000 metres, a typical Savoyard village with the splendid Aravis Mountains in the background, capped at 2,752 metres by the Pointe Percée; six kilometres higher up, on the road to Col de la Colombière, lies Le Grand-Bornand Chinaillon, at 1,300 metres, with its old village dating back to the 17th century. The resort’s unity is preserved through its inhabitants’ attachment to the land and traditions. Leading agricultural town of the Haute-Savoie, Le Grand-Bornand is the birthplace of reblochon farmhouse cheese. More than 400 one hundred year old chalets, architecturally typical of the valley, dot the landscape: these characterise the harmony of the location and its environment. The resort continues to develop whilst at the same time remaining faithful to this alpine heritage.
Tignes (Picture: Monica Dalmasso)
Tignes is famous for its XXL skiing domain: together, Val d’Isère and Tignes form the Espace Killy. You also get to ski in the summertime, on the Grande Motte Glacier at nearly 10,000 ft. Tignes the youthful, is the sporting and cosmopolitan face of Savoy. 1952: the former Tignes, at 5,100 ft, is engulfed by water as the newly-built dam is put in use. In 1954, a few inhabitants decide to settle at 6,900 ft and launch what was to become the leading resort in the Alps. Tignes, both a village and a resort: from Tignes les Bréviaires to Val Claret, a difference of 6,500 ft on skis, between modernity and tradition, Tignes is the land of diversity.
Tignes, at the avant-garde in staging sporting events: from the first acrobatic skiing World Championships to the Tignes Airways (European X Games), or the European Beach Soccer championships, Tignes always makes the headlines! Tignes is the ideal spot for altitude training, following in the footsteps of the French national football team.
