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Stage by stage
stage 7 - Tomblaine 
La Planche des Belles Filles
199 km
Saturday 7 July
La Planche des Belles Filles
199 km
Saturday 7 July
Medium mountains - A sporting perspective
Christian Prudhomme’s Analysis
Cyclosportive riders are already familiar with La Planche des Belles Filles, where the Trois Ballons race finishes, but the professionals will discover the imposing final climb which leads to the resort. The figures speak for themselves: an ascent which is almost 6 kilometres long, an average gradient of 8.5% and some sections that have a gradient of 13%. The Tour’s favourites will definitely be successful there!
Tomblaine
• Stage town for the first time
• 8,000 inhabitants
• Head of the canton of Meurthe-et-Moselle (54)
A new town on the Tour de France’s map, Tomblaine is situated in the sphere of influence of Nancy, where the peloton has been going since 1905. Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet and Bernard Hinaul have been winners there, but the memory which is the freshest in our minds is that of Christophe Mengin’s bitter disappointment in the 2005 Tour. The stage’s regional rider had every opportunity to win, by joining the breakaway of the day, and then leaving his fellow riders behind him in the final stretch. The several second’s lead that he still had after the red pennant should have been enough, but he was caught out by the rain and the rider from Lorraine finished his route by crashing into the barriers on the edge of the last bend. Italy’s Lorenzo Bernucci took advantage of his bad luck.
La Planche des Belles Filles
• Stage site for the first time
• The summit of the Vosges massive (1148 m) in Haute-Saône (70)
The only ski resort in the department of Haute-Saône and the last summit of the Vosges, La Planche des Belles Filles is going to make a promising entrance among the Tour de France’s finish sites. Although the final slope seems to be reserved for the strongest climbers, this place takes its name from a collective and hopeless flight of the women of the valley, who wanted to escape from a massacre declared by the Vikings during their conquest in the 15 th century.
• www.cg70.fr
• www.stationdelaplanche.fr
• www.destination70.com