Looking at the numbers, today’s stage could easily be mistaken for een re-run of stage 9.
But yesterday’s stage included three climbs, today’s “only” two.
I started in Notre-Dame-de-Briançon and headed towards the start of a climb I had put on my shortlist.
Valmorel is one of those dead-end climbs to a ski resort that could have been a host to some discipline during the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, but wasn’t.
The climb is often overlooked because of the neighboring Madeleine, which attracts far more cyclists.
It’s an even climb with no really hard stretches and it has great views. I cycled to the 1,500-meter mark at Les Chalets de Valmorel.
We had a bite and a drink and then descended back to Aigueblanche.
From there, I started to climb up to Grand Naves.
Under a blistering sun…
The climb itself is very similar to Valmorel, looking at distance, average grade and steepest bits.
Neither climb is ultra challenging, but one after the other under (very) hot conditions might be.
It is for me…
The descent down from Grand Naves to Notre-Dame-de-Briançon was quite different from the ascent up the other end I had just done.
I continued the ride towards Albertville, which extended the stage with some 20+ kilometers and little more D+.
Total for today: 87.15 kilometers and 2,135 meters of D+ – that’s two recovery days in a row, so tomorrow I’ll head towards Samoëns for some VeloViewer “100 Greatest” trophies…
