TDF 2022:- Stage 11: Albertville to Col du Granon, 157.1Km ***Spoilers***
blazing_saddles
Posts: 21,534
Stage 11: Albertville to Col du Granon, 157.1Km *****
Start Time: 12-25CET
Anyone who envisions winning this Tour must have their A-game for this brutal stage in the Alps. The first really hard stage of the Grand Boucle will feature the comeback of the Col du Granon 36 years after the first and last time it has been used. The climbs are tightly packed, after 50 kilometers on valley roads. In the only other stage to finish up here, in 1986, race leader Bernard Hinault lost his yellow jersey to La Vie Claire teammate Greg LeMond.
Albertville and the Tour de France have been intertwined in recent years. Five out of the last seven editions did see a stage start from the town in the foothills of the Alps. Usually, the stage enters the high mountains, which is the case in 2022 as well. The first hour of racing takes place on flat roads.
The race travels in a Southerly direction, through the Maurienne and the valley of the river Arc, to the first climb of the day and a possible spot for the final formation of the day's breakaway.
At St Michel du Maurienne, the character of the race changes, with the big cols looming.
The Climbs:
The peloton will firstly hit the Lacets de Montvernier, one of Prudhomme favourites apparently, more for its photogenic quality than for its influence.
Next on the menu is the serpent-like Col du Télégraphe that climbs for almost 12 kilometers at 7 percent, immediately followed by the Tour’s highest peak, the 17.7-kilometer Galibier, which is at its 13-percent steepest just before the 2,642-meter (8,668-foot) summit.
One of the hardest and most beautiful climbs of the Alps, it has not be climbed from the Telegraphe side from 2017 and before then from 2011.
Final Kms.
Just before reaching the highest city in France, the course turns sharp left to tackle this year’s toughest climb. The narrow road is rough and grippy, takes in a dozen tight turns and tops out at 2,413 meters (almost 8,000 feet) above sea level.
The Col de Granon ascends for 11.3 kilometers at a mean 9-percent grade with a middle section in the double digits and the steepest pitch of 18 percent.
What to Expect.
Without doubt, the breakaway will be large, but the GC riders will take centre stage. This is potentially the stage where the greatest time gains and losses can be made. If last year is anything to go by, expect Tadej Pogacar to launch an early attack. Jumbo will most likely try to keep at least some of their train rolling, but at same time, try to have Jonas Vingegaard follow and sit on the Slovenian wheel.
Expect total carnage to ensue.
Albertville
Population: 19,500
Specialities: diots (sausages), polenta. Region of Beaufort cheese, Tome des Bauges, Savoy wines (white & red) from the vineyards of Albertville.
ALBERTVILLE AND CYCLING
For a long time, the riders of the Tour were content to cross Albertville to reach the valleys of the Tarentaise or Beaufortain, but recently, they have been stopping here regularly since this will be the fifth visit of the peloton in less than ten years. The first two have allowed the French to shine. In 2012, Pierre Rolland took advantage of the dynamic format of the stage to win in La Toussuire-Les Sybelles. In 2016, Romain Bardet pulled off a coup on the approach to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to win the stage and take second place overall. In 2018, Geraint Thomas took the Yellow Jersey at La Rosière and kept it all the way. Finally, in 2019, Vincenzo Nibali avenged a failed Tour by winning a short stage to Val Thorens, shortened by 70 km due to bad weather. Egan Bernal had, that day, definitively consolidated his Yellow Jersey. The Olympic city is a good place for the Colombian, who won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2017 by winning the stage Albertville-Sainte-Foy. That same year, Albertville was on the route of the Critérium du Dauphiné and saw the victory of Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang on the plateau de Solaison.
Diots and polenta
Savoy Cheeses.
Along the Route.
Km 57.8
SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE (8,200)
Opinel Museum
Created in a former workshop where the famous knife was made, the museum was completely renovated in 2013. Next to the forge and the machines still in place, a modern scenography allows visitors to discover the manufacturing processes of yesterday and today, as well as the history of the Opinel family and the famous Savoy knife.
www.opinel-musee.com
Col du Granon Serre Chevalier
Population: 1,600
Specialities: cabbage sausage, cabbage pie, trout, larch liqueur.
COL DU GRANON AND CYCLING
Although it has only been climbed once by the Tour de France, in 1986 (victory by Eduardo Chozas after a 170-km breakaway), the Granon enjoys a real aura because it is the place where Bernard Hinault wore the Yellow Jersey for the 79th and last time before handing it over to his teammate Greg LeMond. Dropped in the Izoard, the Badger finished with difficulty, more than 3'20" behind the American, and said at the finish: "I was crying on my bike, it looked like my blood was carrying thorns.”
With its 2,404m altitude, the Granon was for a long time the highest finish of the Grande Boucle, before being beaten in 2011 by its neighbour, the Galibier, and its 2,642m.
Cabbage pie
Larch liqueur
Start Time: 12-25CET
Anyone who envisions winning this Tour must have their A-game for this brutal stage in the Alps. The first really hard stage of the Grand Boucle will feature the comeback of the Col du Granon 36 years after the first and last time it has been used. The climbs are tightly packed, after 50 kilometers on valley roads. In the only other stage to finish up here, in 1986, race leader Bernard Hinault lost his yellow jersey to La Vie Claire teammate Greg LeMond.
Albertville and the Tour de France have been intertwined in recent years. Five out of the last seven editions did see a stage start from the town in the foothills of the Alps. Usually, the stage enters the high mountains, which is the case in 2022 as well. The first hour of racing takes place on flat roads.
The race travels in a Southerly direction, through the Maurienne and the valley of the river Arc, to the first climb of the day and a possible spot for the final formation of the day's breakaway.
At St Michel du Maurienne, the character of the race changes, with the big cols looming.
The Climbs:
The peloton will firstly hit the Lacets de Montvernier, one of Prudhomme favourites apparently, more for its photogenic quality than for its influence.
Next on the menu is the serpent-like Col du Télégraphe that climbs for almost 12 kilometers at 7 percent, immediately followed by the Tour’s highest peak, the 17.7-kilometer Galibier, which is at its 13-percent steepest just before the 2,642-meter (8,668-foot) summit.
One of the hardest and most beautiful climbs of the Alps, it has not be climbed from the Telegraphe side from 2017 and before then from 2011.
Final Kms.
Just before reaching the highest city in France, the course turns sharp left to tackle this year’s toughest climb. The narrow road is rough and grippy, takes in a dozen tight turns and tops out at 2,413 meters (almost 8,000 feet) above sea level.
The Col de Granon ascends for 11.3 kilometers at a mean 9-percent grade with a middle section in the double digits and the steepest pitch of 18 percent.
What to Expect.
Without doubt, the breakaway will be large, but the GC riders will take centre stage. This is potentially the stage where the greatest time gains and losses can be made. If last year is anything to go by, expect Tadej Pogacar to launch an early attack. Jumbo will most likely try to keep at least some of their train rolling, but at same time, try to have Jonas Vingegaard follow and sit on the Slovenian wheel.
Expect total carnage to ensue.
Albertville
Population: 19,500
Specialities: diots (sausages), polenta. Region of Beaufort cheese, Tome des Bauges, Savoy wines (white & red) from the vineyards of Albertville.
ALBERTVILLE AND CYCLING
For a long time, the riders of the Tour were content to cross Albertville to reach the valleys of the Tarentaise or Beaufortain, but recently, they have been stopping here regularly since this will be the fifth visit of the peloton in less than ten years. The first two have allowed the French to shine. In 2012, Pierre Rolland took advantage of the dynamic format of the stage to win in La Toussuire-Les Sybelles. In 2016, Romain Bardet pulled off a coup on the approach to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to win the stage and take second place overall. In 2018, Geraint Thomas took the Yellow Jersey at La Rosière and kept it all the way. Finally, in 2019, Vincenzo Nibali avenged a failed Tour by winning a short stage to Val Thorens, shortened by 70 km due to bad weather. Egan Bernal had, that day, definitively consolidated his Yellow Jersey. The Olympic city is a good place for the Colombian, who won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2017 by winning the stage Albertville-Sainte-Foy. That same year, Albertville was on the route of the Critérium du Dauphiné and saw the victory of Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang on the plateau de Solaison.
Diots and polenta
Savoy Cheeses.
Along the Route.
Km 57.8
SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE (8,200)
Opinel Museum
Created in a former workshop where the famous knife was made, the museum was completely renovated in 2013. Next to the forge and the machines still in place, a modern scenography allows visitors to discover the manufacturing processes of yesterday and today, as well as the history of the Opinel family and the famous Savoy knife.
www.opinel-musee.com
Col du Granon Serre Chevalier
Population: 1,600
Specialities: cabbage sausage, cabbage pie, trout, larch liqueur.
COL DU GRANON AND CYCLING
Although it has only been climbed once by the Tour de France, in 1986 (victory by Eduardo Chozas after a 170-km breakaway), the Granon enjoys a real aura because it is the place where Bernard Hinault wore the Yellow Jersey for the 79th and last time before handing it over to his teammate Greg LeMond. Dropped in the Izoard, the Badger finished with difficulty, more than 3'20" behind the American, and said at the finish: "I was crying on my bike, it looked like my blood was carrying thorns.”
With its 2,404m altitude, the Granon was for a long time the highest finish of the Grande Boucle, before being beaten in 2011 by its neighbour, the Galibier, and its 2,642m.
Cabbage pie
Larch liqueur
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
1
Posts
The rest of the day tho... 🤯
- @ddraver
Should be a pretty decisive stage.
As an aside, I rode the Col de la Loze from Meribel (2020 stage finish) last week - OMG, that is utterly brutal!
I know it's a pretty climb but it doesn't offer much in racing terms and I'm always surprised how some climbs get used again and again whilst others (like the Granon) go decades between visits.
Lacets make for a lovely helicopter shot though
- @ddraver
Pretty views, big enough to claim as a col, short enough not to destroy bigger cyclists. 😉
Hard to organise as a stage finish but it would make for an excellent climber's sprint.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
The fights to get into/control decent breaks have been fierce.
No I wouldn't. I think with today if you want to open up opportunities to attack on the Galibier it'd help if there had been more prior to the climb. Maybe not a set piece HC like the ones I'd mentioned but something to make it difficult for UAE. The lacets is so narrow and has so many tight turns it's really just a show piece - it'll stretch things out but it's not very hard at all.
As it is after a short fast section off the Galibier they are on to the Lautaret which will favour the peloton and the UAE domestiques and really means for the GC its hard to do anything before the final climb. I hope I'm wrong but that's how I see it.
Breakaway on the Telegraphe which is reeled in before the last climb, then GC race.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
- @ddraver
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
Today's stage has a profile score of 400. There is 1 stage with a higher profile score. That being stage 18, the Hautcam stage.
There are 4070 vertical meters to overcome today. 2kms are over 12%, 10kms are between 9-11% and 21kms are between 6-8%.
Today, we cross the half way mark, not only in stages, but in distance covered.
Yeah I suppose there might be a battle to get into it but with the Telegraphe being quite wide and steady to come after I'm guessing teams won't be too concerned.
The only time I rode it was in the Marmotte when they had to change the route one year and it went over the Lacets and back over the CdF via some other climb which I can't remember the name of - now that would make a tough stage. I just found the zig zags on the lacets so short I can't see anyone really sprinting out of each corner to get up to speed so I just think they'll chug up it at an easy pace - but it does look pretty.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
Cheers me up does that.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
Can always wait in the valley after the Galibier if Jumbo need bodies on the final climb
I'm 15:54 on this one: https://www.strava.com/segments/18588694 and 12:26 on this: https://www.strava.com/segments/9805364
More or less guarantees that there will be no GC action before somewhere on the Granon.