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Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
204 km
Tuesday 13 July
With four climbs on the programme, this will be the major alpine stage, following the first rest day. The stage will start in Haute-Savoie then, after a climb to the Colombière mountain pass, cross the border into Savoie and the Aravis pass, followed by the Saisies pass. The final and most gruelling challenge will be the Madeleine pass that lies thirty kilometres from the finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
• 17 times a stage town in Morzine
• 6 times a stage site in the resort of Avoriaz
• Population: 3,400
• Town in Haute-Savoie (74)
Morzine-Avoriaz and the Tour have enjoyed a solid alliance since 1975, as this will be the Tour’s twenty fourth visit, and a rest day to boot. Climbers have always triumphed here and the only one to have triumphed twice is Richard Virenque. Two winners in Morzine are no longer with us: Thierry Claveyrolat, who achieved one of his finest victories here in 1991, and Marco Pantani, who triumphed here in 1997. In 1988, thanks to his win in Morzine, Fabio Parra became the first Colombian rider to finish on the Tour podium.
• Once a stage town
• Population: 9,400
• Sub-prefecture of Savoie (73)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne has notably seen the birth of expert slalom racers, like Jean-Noël Augert and Jean-Baptiste Grange, but the close proximity of the Croix-de-Fer, Télégraphe, Lautaret, Madeleine, Glandon, Iseran, Mont-Cenis and Galibier mountain passes have always made it a natural cycling ground. The start of a stage in 2006, the Savoyard city will this year have the honour of hosting a stage finish.
