TDF 2024:-Stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Saint-Vulbas, 177.4km ***Spoilers***

blazing_saddles
blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
edited July 2 in Pro race

Stage 5: Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne – Saint-Vulbas, 177.4km

July 3rd

Start Time:12-20

The Tour will temporarily exit the Alps via Chambéry in stage 5. Starting in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the 177.4km route will head to Saint-Vulbas and will tackle only two climbs, the Côte du Cheval Blanc and the Côte de l’Huis, the latter taking place with 34km left to race, and one intermediate sprint interspersed between the two ascents. Saint-Vulbas saw it’s last pro-peloton finish in the 2016 Criterium du Dauphiné. Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the town in the foothills of the Alps saw two Tour de France stage starts in the last decade.

Profile.

Map.

The Climbs.

Côte du Cheval Blanc (Cat. 4)

Côte de Lhuis (Cat. 4)

Total climbing1,050m

Final Kilometres.

Saint-Vulbas is situated in that direction, on the west bank of the Rhône. After Vertrieu, the riders cross the Rhône again and follow the D20 to Saint-Vulbas. There's a sharp right turn into an industrial estate, the Zone Industriel de la Plaine de l'Ain, and another right turn onto the Avenue des Bergeries.

After a slight bend to the left, the finish line comes into view.

What to Expect.

On the way from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas, there are only two climbs, and they're far from the finish. So, it looks odds on another sprint finish and another opportunity for Mark Cavendish to go for broke.

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

Stage town for the 5th time

Sub-prefecture of Savoie (73)

Population: 7,600

SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE AND CYCLING

Although the Tour ignored Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne until 2006, it has since become a regular fixture here, with stages in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2019. The town has also featured many times during stages. Geraint Thomas has good cause to remember it: in 2019, one of the most eventful stages in the Tour's recent history set off from the birthplace of Opinel knives towards Tignes, where the race never arrived due to a landslide. That day, Egan Bernal, in a breakaway with Simon Yates, secured overall victory in the Tour.

Specialities: crozets, diots and pormoniers (Savoy sausages), farcement (potato cake with bacon), Beaufort, Bleu de Bonneval, Termignon (cheeses), Persan (red wine)

Farcement.

The Fontcouverte snails

Since 2006, snail breeder Carole Milan has set up in the village of Fontcouverte, between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and La Toussuire, and sells her produce at markets, grocery shops and delicatessens in the region, as well as in a number of restaurants. The farm, known as “L'Escargot de la Maison Blanche” (The White House Snail), has around a thousand snails and can be visited by prior arrangement from June to September.

Saint-Vulbas

Stage town for the first time

Municipality in Ain

Population: 1,250

SAINT-VULBAS AND CYCLING

Saint-Vulbas may be making its first appearance on the Tour de France route, but this small town in the Ain region is already a major cycling venue, having hosted the Critérium du Dauphiné twice, the Tour de l'Avenir three times and above all the Tour de l'Ain, for which it is regularly one of the first stage towns.

Specialities: villibadoise tart, sugar tart, salted walnut tart, Bugey wines. Marc du Bugey. Bugey cheeses.

Baked and salted walnut tarts

A must at traditional oven festivals, the various wood-fired tarts can be discovered every year from April to October in the villages of Bugey. The origins of the Bugey oven festivals go back to the Middle Ages. Villagers had to pay a tax, known as banalité, to the lord who had built the oven, in exchange for its use. Salé aux noix du Bugey is a savoury bread pastry, flattened to be filled with crushed walnuts and onion rings, and drizzled with walnut oil. This delicious, unexpectedly textured tart, served hot or warm, can be enjoyed as a starter or main course, accompanied by a green salad.


"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651

    Saint-Vulvas? 😮


    Oh I read that wrong

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  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,182

    That Salé aux noix du Bugey looks delicious

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651

    This is a weird finish town. The Saint-Vulbas commune population is 1,234. It's got a nuclear power station in Bugey. The finish is going to be in a random bit of scrubby woodland that probably serves as a park. The finish line itself nothing more than an indeterminate place to stop. The run up will feature a lot of light industry, a vista that will leave viewers wistfully remembering the outskirts of Liege.

    No idea why the Tour is stopping here



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  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,318
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,142
    edited July 3

    Wikipedia not sugar coating the view of the 12th century chapel.

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    It's part of France ...they should cover the sh1tty bits. Warts and all

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,332

    At the risk of seemingly terminally and impossibly mad, I kind of like cooling towers. They're a pleasing shape, and now almost extinct (in the UK at least) despite being local landmarks for generations.

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    edited July 3

    I would rather watch a video feed of the cooling towers than the crap they put out on "The Breakaway."

    Currently acting out on the cringe worthy, Breakaway Bus.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Munsford0
    Munsford0 Posts: 678

    Me too. Grew up around them. Dad worked at Ferrybridge A then B then C Station. Saw them all built, working, decommissioned, then demolished in my lifetime :(

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651

    I'd like to leave some about for a few thousand years. Future archeologists will be discussing how in the early bronze age there were the beaker people but at some point a few thousand years later there were the GIANT BEAKER PEOPLE!

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  • JimD666
    JimD666 Posts: 2,293

    The first 50km or so is definitely the sort of stage I'd be happy to ride 😁

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725

    Nobody interested in forming a breakaway again.

    A by product of sprinter teams no longer allowing breaks more than a couple of minutes.

    Makes for a very poor spectacle.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651

    Flag has dropped and.... Nothing. Pee stops.

    Could have stuck them over the Lacets they're showing us from the heli shot, like the pictures were directed by Jim Bowen from Bullseye: "See what you could have won"

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  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    If they go any slower

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651

    Ayuso and Lazkano have accidentally drifted off the front. Perhaps Ayuso was saving his legs for this yesterday?

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  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,056

    Has G practiced falling yet? ;)

    They really should expand the points for sprints and KOMs to something like the top ten, not only by position, but also by segment time.

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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725

    About 35kph for the first half hour.

    Has all the mucking about just turned a little more serious?

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908
    edited July 3

    You want a old school timed intergiro type deal with a jersey ...ditch the white jersey

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,651
    edited July 3

    Ditch the white jersey is a competition I'd like to see. Everyone attempting to put Remco off the verge...


    We have a break of sorts, two sacrificial Frenchmen: Vercher of Total Energies and Russo of FDJ. My theory is that Gaudu failed so badly to deliver valiant failure yesterday (achieving only run of the mill failure, possibly even cowardly failure) that Madiot is attempting to find panache elsewhere

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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,142

    Must be slightly depressing to be allowed into a breakaway on a day like this.

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    It's almost humiliation punishment for being the 2 weakest teams

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725

    Two hours done and still over 100kms to ride.

    This stage is as dull as today’s weather.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,318

    It is well known to be a designated sprint stage. Why would anyone bother watching anything before the last 10 kms?

    Thanks for being the spotter so I know when to switch on though. 😉

    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    Is that Jonas staying near the front ?

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    It is with WvA ...hoping for a split?

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463

    Pog causing a crash. Is it just me or are the commentators calling every crash a 'big crash'? The one at the end of Stage 3 only took a few riders down and that one only had 5 down at pretty low speed.

  • daniel_b
    daniel_b Posts: 11,973
    edited July 3

    Did he cause it though?

    I saw the late swerve, and making shoulder contact with the rider to his right, but they both stayed upright.

    I'm unsure, though I suppose it could have been contributory.

    *Edit: On the zoomed in view it just looks like the Bahrain rider behind him was unable to avoid the island and went into the rider on his right, which caused the crash.

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  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    That was a near miss

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    More like the last rider to avoid the crash ...he had little choice

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,142

    Harsh to say he caused that - it was the guy behind him who didn't manage to avoid the sign who brought anyone down. Nobody alongside Pog went over