Tour 2009, 1 - 5 July
| stage | distance (km) | climbing (m) |
|---|---|---|
| Grenoble - Alpe-d'Huez | 69 | 2420 |
| Alpe-d'Huez - Névache | 115 | 2840 |
| Névache - Bonneval | 109 | 2350 |
| Bonneval - Entrèves | 105 | 2360 |
| Entrèves - Martigny | 127 | 2490 |
| total | 525 | 12460 |
Stage 1: 1 July 2009
I took an early train from Zurich to Geneva and changed there to Grenoble. I got
out with my bicycle at Gières, just before Grenoble. The first feeling was not
really good: hot, more than 30°. This, however, was the lowest point of the whole
tour i could thus hope that it would be the highest temperature. I took a road in a
valley to Uriage, where i crossed the track of my
tour 2006 and turned left,
starting to climb to the Luitel pass. I was glad to reach soon the Prémol forest
and to find some shade. At Luitel, i left the main road to Chamrousse, passed near
the nice little lake and reached the pass of
Luitel. The descent to Séchilienne
was on a narrow and irregular road, but with almost no traffic. I feared that the
main road to Bourg-d'Oisans would then be boring, but it was not so bad. First i
had some tailwind, and second i was far from alone on this road. There were indeed
quite many cyclists aiming obviously at the same climb than me...
I stopped at Bourg-d'Oisans to have a drink, than started on the famous climb to
the Alpe-d'Huez. Many other cyclists were on the way up, some probably training for
the 'Marmotte' popular race, to take place a few days later. I did not look at my
stop watch. I had two good reasons for this: first the heat, second the fact that
it was the last climb of the first day, which is by experience not the easiest one.
And it was indeed quite hard. With some stops on the way, i finally managed it.
Towards the end, it became easier as the temperature went down. There are some big
hotels at l'Alpe-d'Huez, but i chose a very small one.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gières | 0 | 210 | |
| Uriage | 9 | 410 | 200 |
| Luitel | 20 | 1260 | 850 |
| Luitel | 21 | 1260 | - |
| Séchilienne | 31 | 360 | - |
| Livet | 44 | 670 | 310 |
| Bourg-d'Oisans | 56 | 720 | |
| Huez | 66 | 1500 | 780 |
| Alpe d'Huez | 69 | 1780 | 280 |
| total | 69 | 2420 |
Stage 2: 2 July 2009
Even before breakfast, i took my bicycle and rode to the
Col de Poutran, a pass
above the Alpe-d'Huez that is paved only from this side, not on its north slope to
Oz-d'Oisans. I rode actually a little bit higher to have a better view over this
north slope. After seeing the sunrise, i was back in time for breakfast at the
hotel.
I did not choose the same road to return to the valley but a small and very quite
road over Col de Sarenne. The
landscape was very picturesque (except for all the ski lifts) and i was alone on the
way. What a difference with the day before. After the descent, i joined the main
road near the dam of Chambon. I took it to the east. Except for some uncomfortable
rides through tunnels, the long climb to the
Lautaret pass posed no problem at all.
I was at the Lautaret already during my tour 2001, but
then it was 'for free' as it
was in the descent from the higher Galibier. This time, i can really pretend to
have climbed the Lautaret. After a stop at the pass to have a drink and a piece of
bread, i rode down, but not all the way to Briançon. At Chantemerle, i turned left
and started to climb to the Granon
pass. I was a long climb and the sun heated this south slope, but i felt it easier
than the Alpe-d'Huez. The sight to the Écrins massif was beautiful. I stopped at
the pass and had a drink at the refuge, but as i wanted to leave i had a flat tire.
Bad luck! I repaired and started the descent to the other side. I hoped that it
would be fine to ride, but only the first few kilometres had good gravel. Further
down, it was steeper and stony. It was a very hard descent, but at least i did not
have to count further flat tires. Luck! Not necessary to tell that i was very glad
to find again a surfaced road. It went gently uphill towards Névache, where i
found a very nice little auberge.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpe-d'Huez | 0 | 1780 | |
| Poutran | 3 | 2030 | 250 |
| Alpe-d'Huez | 6 | 1780 | - |
| Altiport | 10 | 1880 | 100 |
| Le Gua | 14 | 1770 | - |
| Sarenne | 17 | 2000 | 230 |
| Le Chambon | 30 | 1040 | - |
| Lac de Chambon | 34 | 1040 | - |
| La Grave | 44 | 1480 | 440 |
| Le Lautaret | 55 | 2060 | 580 |
| Le Monêtier | 69 | 1480 | - |
| La Salle | 77 | 1370 | - |
| Chantemerle | 79 | 1390 | 20 |
| Col de Granon | 90 | 2410 | 1020 |
| pt. 2307 | 94 | 2310 | - |
| Granon | 98 | 1920 | - |
| Val-des-Prés | 105 | 1400 | - |
| Sallé | 115 | 1600 | 200 |
| total | 115 | 2840 |
Stage 3: 3 July 2009
The third day, i got up quite early in order to hit the road at 8 o'clock, and not
with an empty stomach. The goal was to be at ten in Susa to meet a small group of
Italian cyclists. I first rode up to the
Col de l'Échelle, which was no
longer far. After the pass, the road goes slightly down and up again, and here is
already a second pass, called Mauvais
Pas. Nothing bad despite the name, on the contrary: effortless one more pass in
the collection. After a few hairpin curves, i reached the Italian border where i
had to show my ID, for the first time since many years that i'm cycling between
alpine countries. In Bardonecchia, i took the main road down to Susa and was there
on time at our meeting point. Antonio was also on time: he had done the 11-hour
train ride from Lucca near Pisa the day before. Federico, then Sergio and Vincenzo
arrived a bit later. At almost 11, we were in saddle towards Mont Cenis. From now
on, i would be for almost all the remaining itinerary on my own tracks, those of my
tour 2001. There were just more breaks to allow everybody
to follow... and to take some pictures. As we were close to the hairpin curves
climbing to the dam, the last guy of our party caught up, Tita. We were now six on
the way to the Mont Cenis pass,
which we reached in the early afternoon.
After a fast descent, we reached Lanslevillard, went up to the
Madeleine Pass and continued towards
Bonneval. We easily found an hotel with free rooms for us. The dinner was finally
the opportunity to get acquainted with this group of cyclists of different ages and
from different parts of Italy, and this in spite of my poor Italian.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sallé | 0 | 1600 | |
| Roubion | 2 | 1580 | - |
| Échelle | 4 | 1760 | 180 |
| Douane | 5 | 1750 | - |
| Mauvais Pas | 6 | 1780 | 30 |
| Bardonecchia | 15 | 1310 | - |
| Salbertrand | 34 | 1020 | - |
| Deveys | 36 | 1090 | 70 |
| Exilles | 40 | 860 | - |
| Chiomonte | 46 | 740 | - |
| Mollare | 48 | 760 | 20 |
| Susa | 52 | 500 | - |
| La Caisse | 75 | 2070 | 1570 |
| La Caisse | 76 | 2050 | - |
| Fontainettes | 79 | 2100 | 50 |
| La Vachère | 82 | 2040 | - |
| Mont Cenis | 83 | 2080 | 40 |
| Lanslevillard | 92 | 1480 | - |
| Madeleine | 96 | 1720 | 240 |
| Bessens | 98 | 1660 | - |
| Bonneval | 109 | 1810 | 150 |
| total | 109 | 2350 |
Stage 4: 4 July 2009
Because they wanted to catch a train at Pré-St-Didier in the afternoon, Sergio
and Tita started in advance towards the Iseran. The remaining four of us were not
in hurry. We took our time for breakfast and hit the road a bit later. In the
middle of the climb, we let Antonio behind us and we continued as a group of three:
Federico, Vincenzo and me. The climb to the
Iseran pass in the morning light
was just gorgeous. We were not very fast, but too fast: as we reached the pass, the
restaurant was not yet open. We stopped anyway, to take a few pictures and just to
enjoy this high pass and the view from there.
Then we enjoyed the descent to Val-d'Isère, bought something to eat, and contiuned
down to Ste-Foy. From there we took the little road up to Montvalezan. We had a
break where my companions ate what they had taken from Val-d'Isère (i did not
have much, it was already eaten and i was not hungry). After this break, we
continued up to the Petit-St-Bernard. After joining the main road coming from Bourg-St-Maurice, the climb
was no longer steep but still quite long. Thick clouds were gathering around the
mountain tops and we were not fast enough to avoid some rain as we arrived at the
pass. We could shelter and after five minutes the rain receded and let us set off
again. Before La Thuile, however, we got into a serious thunderstorm with even some
hail. We could shelter again, but not without getting wet feet and cold legs.
Fortunately, this shower did not last long either and we could soon leave La Thuile
and continue down to Pré-St-Didier. The last hairpin curves were even dry.
The goal of the day was no longer far and only the gentle climb to Entrèves was
left. At Entrèves, we had again no problem to find a nice but not too expansive
hotel at the foot of the Mont Blanc. We had to wait a while till Antonio also
arrived. He had had a long day riding, but he did not even look tired. Later, Sergio
was also there, back from Susa with his car. We went together to have dinner in a
restaurant of this nice village of Entrèves.
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonneval | 0 | 1810 | |
| Iseran | 14 | 2770 | 960 |
| Val d'Isère | 30 | 1840 | - |
| La Reculaz | 31 | 1800 | - |
| Le Chevril | 36 | 1830 | 30 |
| Ste-Foy | 50 | 1110 | - |
| Nant Cruet | 59 | 1650 | 540 |
| La Rosière | 64 | 1850 | 200 |
| Petit-St-Bernard | 73 | 2190 | 340 |
| La Thuile | 86 | 1490 | - |
| Elevaz | 90 | 1350 | - |
| Pré-St-Didier | 96 | 1020 | - |
| Entrèves | 105 | 1310 | 290 |
| total | 105 | 2360 |
Stage 5: 5 July 2009
The fifth day was a Sunday. After breakfast, i said goodbye to my Italian companions and went down to Aosta as they wanted to climb into the Val Veny. For me, this last day in saddle ressembled very much the end of my tour 2001: over the Grand-St-Bernard, then down to Martigny to take a train. The main difference was that there were construction works on the Italian side of the pass. Further up, they were finished and the road was new. Because of the dark clouds, i feared a new thunderstorm. Fortunately, it didn't rain during this ride, except perhaps in the descent when wind gusts blew irrigation water on the road rather than on the fields. The valley of Entremont is indeed often windy and i experienced it again, having to pedal hard where there was only a slight slope down. I finally arrived at Martigny around 3 o'clock. In the train to Lausanne, there was an entire waggon for my bicycle, but from Lausanne to Zurich there were only 5 hooks for more than 20 bicycles...
| distance (km) | altitude (m) | climbing (m) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entrèves | 0 | 1310 | |
| Pré-St-Didier | 9 | 1020 | - |
| Aoste | 40 | 580 | - |
| Etroubles | 53 | 1260 | 680 |
| Grand-St-Bernard | 75 | 2470 | 1210 |
| Orsières | 99 | 900 | - |
| Martigny | 119 | 470 | - |
| total | 119 | 1890 |
PS / 11.7.2009