I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in Bourg-Saint-Maurice (BSM) in the French Alps with my windows open and a hot breeze blowing as the thermometer tips 29 degrees.
Everywhere we go Tour de France fever has hit the villages and cols and they are bedecked with the yellow, green and polka-dot colours representing the race leaders’ jerseys. As I write there is still a week until the famous cycle race passes through BSM, but it will be on its way through the Cevennes as you read this.
The race is a real extravaganza and towns and villages along the route become festivals of cycling. Here in BSM people are already erecting gazebos in their gardens so they can host TdF parties and watch they race as they drink and eat. There isn’t a lamppost, roundabout or black wall that hasn’t been decorated in some fashion or other to celebrate “le Tour”.
Unfortunately, I will be flying out of France the day before it reaches the Alps, so won’t get a chance to see any of the race this year, but have had the pleasure of standing on a mountainside on several previous occasions as the race has passed through.
There aren’t many other sporting events quite like it and it seems to have spawned a competitiveness between villages who all seem to be trying to outdo each other by “out-decorating” each other.
Over the next few days, I will be guiding riders over the Col d’Iseran, the Galibier and on to Alpe d’Huez – all huge mountains, both in terms of their size and the weight of the legend that they carry in Tour de France history. However, our riders are most excited about cycling on two climbs that first featured in the Tour de France in 2015. With such a young pedigree you would be forgiven in thinking they were incidental climbs among the other giants, but they have become iconic climbs, not for their altitude, length or sheer grandeur, but for their absolute cycling perfection.
The Lacets du Mont Vernier and Col du Chaussy pack a mighty punch when it comes to providing a spectacular ride. The Lacets in particular although only a short three kilometres in length manage to embody everything that is great about cycling into 17 tightly-packed hairpin bends that are carved into the sheer rock face. I rode this last week and, despite having cycled it several times before, I still got excited as I approached the base and looked up at this road winding above me.
On reaching the small village of Mont Vernier above the Lacets I was greeted with yet more Tour de France decoration. I can imagine the residents in this small and perfectly kept village are proud to feature in the 2018 race and those in their gardens will have front row seats for the spectacle as the race winds its way upwards.
Beyond Mont Vernier the Col du Chaussy climbs steeply towards another rock face where the road has been cut into the side of the mountain. It then contours around the steep slopes towards another little village past some open pastures and eventually summits with a delightful little cafe at the top.
For me these two climbs are wonderful. They have the element of challenge, but also in an increasingly motorised Alps, where the sound of engines constantly accompany your pedal strokes, they have a stillness about them that suits their perfection.
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Where to ride:
The Lacets du Mont Vernier and Col du Chaussy France, Auvergne-Rhône Alpes
Distance: 13km at an average grade of 7.5%
Start: Pontamafrey
Details: Summiting at 1553m the Lacets du Mont Vernier and the Col du Chaussy are not giants among the climbs that tower above them, like the Col de Madeline, but what they lack in height they make up with sheer perfection. The kilometre markers for the Col du Chaussy start in the village of Pontamafrey and start to count down as you make your way up the 17 hairpin bends on the Lacets du Montvernier – a climb that does literally lace its way up a vertiginous rock face. From the village Mont Vernier you turn left on towards the Col du Chaussy summit. From here retrace your route back down or descend to meet the Col du Madeline where you can complete a circular route back to Pontamafrey or climb another 21km to the summit of the Col de Madeline
