Description

Méribel to La Roche-sur-Foron

Stage 18 - Thursday, 17 September - 168 km (104 mi)

< Stage 17 - Home - Stage 19 >

The Stage

The weather that caused the neutralisation of last year's stage to Tignes also affected the route of the next stage, with mudslides that rendered the descent off the Cormet de Roselend unusable. It gets another chance this year, let's hope for better weather. Right after the final ascent to the Montée du plateau des Glières we get an gravel stretch of 1.8 km. The ASO themselves have said of this: "whoever gets a puncture here is in for a 30 km nightmare".

Winner: Michal Kwiatkowski

Tour Touristique

Col des Saisies
A refuge for the French Resistance during the Second World War. On August 1, 1944, under the code name "ebonite", the largest parachuting of weapons carried out by the Allies took place for the benefit of the Resistance: 78 flying fortresses sent from London dropped 899 containers of weapons intended for 3,000 men of the Savoy maquis.

La Roche-sur-Foron
The main historical fact about this city dates back to 1885 and precisely to the day when it became the first town in Europe to install public electricity lights. On December 16, 1885, Pierre Giffard, himself a great promoter of cycling, wrote in Le Figaro how astonishing a feat the small town had achieved: “This is not Paris or London or Berlin or Moscow or nothing similar. It’s a very small Savoy city, ten leagues from the Mont Blanc, it’s not an even the chief town of an arrondissement, just a canton chef-lieu called La Roche. Do you know La Roche? La Roche-sur-Foron in Haute-Savoie? No? Well, this town that I’m proud to describe as a city of lights, has just decided, the first of its kind in Europe, to light its streets, squares, monuments and houses with electricity.” Twenty public chandeliers and 600 Edison bulbs lit the houses of the little market town which was already bigger than its shade.

A stone water reservoir diverted the course of the Foron during the day, so as to produce at nightfall the electricity necessary for public lighting. It was restored in 2011 and is advantageously located along the promenade of the public park of Château de l'Echelle.

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Primoz Roglic

3 years ago
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Probably he won't be able to attack again, but I'd like a Carapaz win.

3 years ago
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Tiesj Benoot

3 years ago
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Thank you Corran :)

3 years ago
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Enjoy!

3 years ago
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