Next week Thursday around this time, we will be well on our way to Albertville, where the base camp of my Tour de France 2024 is located.
We had a last-minute change of plan for our stop-over, as the apartment in Grenoble had a plumbing problem and we needed to find another accommodation.
So, we’re now spending the night in Chambéry, where I will also start my Prologue – that’s the first planned stage down the drain…
On the upside, I will now tick off three cols from the VeloViewer 100 list during that ride: #72, #73 and #74.
Either alternative of my originally planned Prologue didn’t have any of the “100 Greatest”, although the left bank alternative possibly had two, but from the wrong end…
Col du Granier from Chambéry (#72) will be my first climb of the Tour – the VeloViewer profile shows a menacing 20% section, but ClimbFinder doesn’t, and those profiles are generally more accurate.
After descending the Granier, I need to make sure I start the right climb up the Col du Cucheron (#73) which actually is marginally easier than the alternative.
But since it has a descending section in the middle, I expect the rest to be harder…
Next up is the Col de Porte (#73), but as I will join that in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, I’ll only have the last 8 kms to climb.
I will then descent that for a bit and turn around to get the StatsHunters badge of the Col de Porte in.
Next on the menu is the Col du Coq, after which it will be mainly downhill – only interrupted by the final few kms of the Plateau-des-Petites-Roches – to Le Touvet’s Intermarché where we can get supplies for our stay.
Total distance of the Prologue is 93.55 kms, with 2,849 m of D+ – not a bad start 😎
