TDF 2023:- Stage 20:- Belfort to Le Markstein, 133km ***Spoilers***

blazing_saddles

Stage 20:- Belfort to Le Markstein, 133km

Saturday, July 22
Start Time: 12-30pmBST.

A final chance in the Vosges mountains with a route for the leaders to go all in. This stage is strongly reminiscent of last year’s queen stage of the first Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
The penultimate stage should once again animate the protagonists to set off fireworks. The course is ideal to do so. There will be five categorised climbs, a few uncategorised ones – and the 133.5 kilometres with their 3,600 metres elevation gain resemble a roller coaster. There a very few flat sections on this stage.



Belfort has hosted the Tour de France on more than a dozen occasions, mostly as a starting venue. The last time was in 2019, the race went to Chalon-sur-Saône, where Dylan Groenewegen sprinted to victory. La Markstein has been included twice in the Tour for men, in 2014 and 2019, but it never before served as a finish for the world's biggest cycling event.



The Climbs.











Final Climbs and Kms.









What to Expect:

One way or another, any remaining jersey issues to be settled. Riders in a full on battle for the break. Riders in the top 10 trying to move up. 130Kms of constant animation.

Belfort

Stage town for the 31st time.
Population: 45,4600.

Belfort is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately 25 km from the France–Switzerland border. The city is located on the river Savoureuse, on a strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap (Trouée de Belfort) or Burgundian Gate (Porte de Bourgogne). It is located approximately 16 km (10 mi) south from the base of the Ballon d'Alsace mountain range, source of the Savoureuse.

BELFORT AND CYCLING

A regular stage in the pre-war Tours, the town has since been used much more as a start than a finish, although Belgian rider Marc Demeyer, Freddy Maertens' regular lead-out man, seized the opportunity to shine here in 1978. The following day, Bernard Hinault won a time-trial helping him him to dislodge Zoetemelk from the top of the general classification and begin his life in yellow at the Tour de France. In 2012, it was from Belfort that Thibaut Pinot won his first Tour de France stage in Switzerland, in Porrentruy. Belfort's best-known rider is undoubtedly Christophe Moreau, who spent his entire adolescence and early racing years in the town of the Lion. He finished 4th in 2000 in the most successful of his 15 Tours de France.

Le Markstein

New stage site
Population: 1,260 in Oderen

Le Markstein is a winter sports station in the Vosges mountains in France situated at an altitude of between 1,020 m and 1,268 m which is located on the Route des Crêtes. Route des Crêtes (English: Route of the Ridges) is an 89 km (55 mi) road in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France, which passes through the Parc Naturel Régional des Ballons des Vosges. The ridge forms part of the boundary between the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.

LE MARKSTEIN AND CYCLING

It was on the climb to Le Markstein last year that Annemiek van Vleuten built up her historic victory in the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes with Zwift. The Dutch rider went solo from the very first hill and outclassed all her rivals to reach the Vosges ski resort more than three minutes ahead of Demi Vollering and more than five minutes ahead of her other rivals.

Alsace Gastronomy.

Tarte à l'oignon

Tarte à l'oignon is a fragrant, savory onion tart from the Alsace region in France. Essentially, it is an open-face pie that is filled with a rich and flavorful custard of eggs, bacon, and onions. Although it is a cousin to the famous quiche Lorraine, it is not as deep as traditional quiches.



Truite au bleu

Truite au bleu is an unusual and nearly forgotten French dish in which a trout becomes blue-colored before being poached. The trout needs to be as fresh as possible – it is first stunned (usually by hitting it on the head), then gutted, and left to soak for a short while in vinegar – the process will turn the natural exterior mucus of the fish blue.



Choucroute Garnie

Choucroute Garnie is a typical winter dish coming from the French Alsace region. At its base is the silky, pungent, fermented cabbage known as sauerkraut, infused with flavors of goose fat, onions, garlic, juniper berries, caraway, and white wine such as the local dry Riesling.
Sauerkraut is garnished with a hefty number of ingredients such as smoked or fresh beef and pork sausages, pork loin, pork shoulder, and bacon. The ultimate version of the dish, called choucroute royale is served with added calf or pork liver dumplings that are poached and sautéed with onions.

Pross

This area is on my short list for a next trip to France. Does anyone recommend it?

jimmyjams

Here is a (only slightly) better, but definitely more accurate, map of the route (until Blazing corrects his):

blazing_saddles

Pross said:

This area is on my short list for a next trip to France. Does anyone recommend it?

As luck would have it, I have been there many times, as have the family.
At one time David's brother used to import wine from a producer in Ammerschweir.
I love it, so would certainly recommended it.

blazing_saddles

jimmyjams said:

Here is a (only slightly) better, but definitely more accurate, map of the route (until Blazing corrects his):

How did that happen?

jimmyjams

Pross said:

This area is on my short list for a next trip to France. Does anyone recommend it?

I love the area and have spent a lot of time there, But I don't want to clog up this thread by talking at length about the Vosges or Alsace, so I will write a pm to you some time tomorrow.

shirley_basso

I would interject to say that the tdf is a tourism initiative and Prudhomme himself would be mortified to hear that the host towns and departments being siphoned off into private messages.

Tell all!

RichN95.

blazing_saddles said:

Is this like the bit in Close Encounters of the Third Kind where Richard Dreyfus makes a mountain out of mashed potato?

andyrr

Rode some of this route in 2007 I think it was for the Etape Legende. Well remember the Plazerwasel then the finish on Ballon D’Alsace. Great event. 9hrs+ that day.

blazing_saddles

Any excuse to post a few pictures....

Riquewihr


Kaysersberg


Eguisheim


Colmar

DeVlaeminck

shirley_basso said:

I would interject to say that the tdf is a tourism initiative and Prudhomme himself would be mortified to hear that the host towns and departments being siphoned off into private messages.

Tell all!

Yes I quite like the added colour from the posts not directly about the racing.

poweredbyidris

Hmmm… Orla announces that this is the last cringe bus of the Tour. Not ever…

No_Ta_Doctor

blazing_saddles said:

Any excuse to post a few pictures....

Riquewihr


Kaysersberg


Eguisheim


Colmar

I refuse to believe these places are real. They're shots of a set for a live action remake of Shrek or something

mididoctors

Simon Yates less than 2 mins off the podium to a very tired Adam

mididoctors

No_Ta_Doctor said:

blazing_saddles said:

Any excuse to post a few pictures....

Riquewihr


Kaysersberg


Eguisheim


Colmar

I refuse to believe these places are real. They're shots of a set for a live action remake of Shrek or something

Look like they were generated by AI don't they

mididoctors

Peloton looks very sluggish

ddraver

Pross said:

This area is on my short list for a next trip to France. Does anyone recommend it?

Not been but it's been on my list for some time. Similar to the Ardennes in geography but because it wasn't used as a battleground it's a bit more as it was I've been told...

No_Ta_Doctor

UAE controlling at the front, they want something from the stage

r0bh

Jonas near the front but no other Jumbo's around him

No_Ta_Doctor

Campanaerts is away solo for some reason, btw. Had de Buyst with him, but he didn't last.

blazing_saddles

Not quite the start I expected.
Victor about to be caught

jimmyjams

shirley_basso said:

I would interject to say that the tdf is a tourism initiative and Prudhomme himself would be mortified to hear that the host towns and departments being siphoned off into private messages.

Tell all!

DeVlaeminck said:

shirley_basso said:

I would interject to say that the tdf is a tourism initiative and Prudhomme himself would be mortified to hear that the host towns and departments being siphoned off into private messages.

Tell all!

Yes I quite like the added colour from the posts not directly about the racing.

ddraver said:

Pross said:

This area is on my short list for a next trip to France. Does anyone recommend it?

Not been but it's been on my list for some time. Similar to the Ardennes in geography but because it wasn't used as a battleground it's a bit more as it was I've been told...

As I said, I love the area.
Although admittedly it isn't quite as dramatic as the Maurienne valley in the Alps, as cosy as where the Tour was recently (departements Ain and Correze), as laid-back as anywhere south of Valence, or as hot as Herault. All parts of France I also love. But the Vosges are something special for me, with their long basically north-south ridge and all their picturesque villages, valleys, passes, and forests.

If I added up how much time in total I've spent in the Vosges/Alsace over the years, mostly in the Vosges mountains themselves rather than the lower plains of Alsace, it must be over 10 months, which gives some indication of my liking for the area. This has mostly been in short trips, 4-6 days duration.
Far back in time, I lived in Stuttgart, so it was only a skip and hop to get to Alsace/the Vosges, then I was In Frankfurt, also not too far away. More recently my trips there have been combined with visits to relatives who live just across the border in Freiburg, Germany, or visiting old friends from uni, who now live in the hills just 'inland' of Selestat. I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be a cheap flight (Flybe?) from various UK airports to Strasbourg, while a cheap flight to Basle/Mulhouse does still exist. Or, also more recently, I've been there as stopover en route driving to/from much farther south.

Sometimes we/I have camped (no problem, provided the weather plays along – I have experienced torrential rain in June and frost as early as mid-Sept) - other times we have been in a hotel or rented a gite – good value albeit cheaper ones sometimes a bit old-fashioned in interior decor. I was there for the eclipse in 1999 and I've seen the Tour live there over half-a-dozen times (I arranged my trips to coincide).

A lot of the time I've spent there has been related to cycling – I have done 5 or 6 cyclosportive races there, distances 150-220 kms, and also as many smaller events without mass-starts or timing, these of 80-120 kms length, and one event over two days, so ~ 240 kms. I have also gone there just to cycle my own routes, and think I've ridden most of the passes at least once.

Of those passes on this Saturday's stage, although it is only a Cat 2 climb, I found the Ballon d'Alsace hard from the direct south (so what the Tour is going up), harder than the Petit Ballon and the Platzerwasel (both Cat 1 today). Maybe I just had a bad day that time.
I remember in one of the cyclosportives I did (the L'Étape de Légende in 2007, which andyrr above says he also did), some Brits I met gave up on the Platzerwasel, they found it so hard (it was three-quarters along the whole route, and in their defence, by the foot of the Platzerwasel we had done about 150 km and 2400 m of climbing = 4 other passes).

Strasbourg is good in its centre while Colmar is great/a better town to visit – pretty, canals, squares, with perhaps the best Xmas market I know. Another of my favourites places is Gerardmer, not for the town itself but for its location and its lake. Of small towns, Wissembourg, at the north end of the Vosges, on the german border, is nice, as are lots of the small towns in the Alsatian vineyards between Obernai and Guebwillier, like Andlau and Riquewihr (although some have become dear). Great ice cream in those places, though, if you like water ices/sorbets.
But I generally prefer being in the hills, so as well as Gerardmer, I like Ste.Marie-aux-Mines, and several fairly small villages, albeit mostly for their locations, e.g. Kruth, although some are nonetheless pretty.

Sight-seeing outside the towns I think should include going to the castle Haut-Koenigsbourg, and also the nunnery at Mont Ste Odile, perhaps also the war monument at Champ du Feu. And the lake at Gerardmer. There are other (smaller) lakes worth a visit too. And other castles as well, especially in the northern Vosges. While there are the typical other places one can visit, like small chocolate and jam factories, cheese-makers, a monkey reserve, a spirits/eau-de-vie museum (Alsace is great for various fruit spirits like Kirsch), etc. Also ziplines and go-ape type parks. There are various small festivals throughout the year, wine ones in the vineyard villages, and even a meatpie festival in Munster. Simply just going hiking is good there too, over the peaks and calling in the ferme-auberges for a snack.

I can't remember a restaurant meal I've had in Alsace/Vosges which disappointed. The Baeckeoffe I had once in Colmar was great, one of my best-ever meals (but a warming winter dish, not really for summer). Also the frogs legs I once had in Gerardmer and the roe deer I had in Orbey. I've tried Michelin-starred restaurants in the area, but I don't think them any better for food.

The meals are generally reliable and perhaps a bit heavier than some French food, as close to Germany (the choucroute in Blazing's preamble being an example, although I suspect that is mainly sold to tourists). The area is also pork country, unlike much of France, meaning there is lots of charcuterie. I associate trout and almonds with the area more than the truite bleu mentioned by Blazing. Venison and hare is common.
Saturday evening's meal is always tarte flambee, and some restaurants only charge for the first (I once had a second for free while the guys on the table next to me managed a second and a third for free!) The vans selling take-aways on the sides of some country roads are good value if you fancy merguez sausages and chips in a baguette – you can also find similar walking the streets in Strasbourg.

Some regional products which I really like are Tarte aux myrtilles (fruit tarts are generally very common) and Munster cheese – although I would recommend for newcomers to the cheese those makes which are 5-6 cm thick (like L'Ermitage), as the thinner ones can be very pungent and don't stay fresh as long.
The white wines of Alsace are highly regarded, but I mostly drink red wine, although I would say the Sylvaner tastier than the more well-known Riesling. On the other hand there are several beer breweries in Alsace, Kronenbourg perhaps the best known, and locally all their beers are to be found in supermarkets. Several beers are flavoured – typically with berries; I really liked that flavoured with cherries. And also one flavoured with violets.

The people are generally more conservative politically and in behaviour than those in many other parts of France, but I've always been very welcomed and received much generosity. At the end of one cycling event, when it was discovered I wasn't French, the only non-French present, my wife and me were given unlimited food and drink for free, while other participants had to pay. At another cycling event part sponsored by Kronenbourg, there was unlimited beer at the finish for participants and their dependents, and when I said I can't have any because I still have to drive, I was given for free a case with 36 bottles of beer (0.33 litre size) to take home.

In the days before one booked hotels online, we arrived at our chosen hotel to find it unexpectantly closed. We went in a nearby cafe to ask if there was another hotel nearby, but a man said he knew somebody who could perhaps put us up. He made a phonecall and then drove us maybe 15 km to a house in a different village. There a woman put us up for free in her son's room (he was away doing his national service), gave us a great if simple evening meal and next morning a large breakfast, and refused to accept any money from us.

blazing_saddles

Lidl cash in

No_Ta_Doctor

Mads P is a monster

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Boo, Vin didn't sprint for KOM points!

mididoctors

blazing_saddles said:

Not quite the start I expected.
Victor about to be caught

Too knackered to race

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

Any excuse to post a few pictures....

Riquewihr


Kaysersberg


Eguisheim


Colmar

Colmar was one of the places I was looking at prior to Covid. The idea was to stop there for a few days before carrying on to the Italian lakes.

No_Ta_Doctor

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

Boo, Vin didn't sprint for KOM points!

Now that would have been unpopular

No_Ta_Doctor

Chute
Rodriguez down

mididoctors

Rodriguez chute

mididoctors

Road rash on his face