After I finished the post on my short list, I started thinking about options for my Prologue.
I’ve booked a stop-over for the night near Grenoble again, which gives me several options to plot a route towards Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
But in 2024 the start of my Tour was redirected to Chambéry when our apartment in Grenoble was no longer available and I decided to plot a Prologue from Chambéry instead.
So, while reading the original ‘options post’ again as well as that on my short list, I realized that instead of dedicating a ‘regular’ stage to the Grand-Saint-Bernard, it might be better to start my Tour in Aosta.
Getting there is taking no longer than to Grenoble and while we still need to get to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at the end of the stage, it will save us the time we would need to get to Aosta from there during a stage later on.
We now have a nice apartment in Aosta for the night and, if travel goes well and we arrive in time, I may start the Tour with a Prelude, like I did last year’s Giro.
The obvious choice for that would be to get up to Pila, finish location of stage 14 in this year’s official Giro d’Italia.
Don’t worry, I will only cycle Pila, not the rest of the stage 😂
My Prologue will then be up-and-down the Grand-Saint-Bernard, or more into the vibe: Colle del Gran San Bernardo, as described in my previous post.
Depending on traffic, I think we’ll then take the scenic route towards Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, over the Petit-Saint-Bernard.
