Annecy and cycling

Fifty years separated the last two visits of the Tour de France in Annecy, Rolf Graf's victory in 1959 and the round-the-lake individual time-trial won by Alberto Contador in 2009. The peloton makes it back much more rapidly in the Venice of the Alps, four years after the last Tour visit. While the lake made famous by poet Lamartine was the highlight of the 2009 stage, the mountains over Annecy are now the stars of the show.

While the Tour shunned Annecy for half-century, the town was a traditional start for the Criterium du Dauphine, which stopped in town 22 times with stage wins by Jean Robic, Bernard Hinault, Charly Mottet or Jean-Francois Bernard. The first stage held in Annecy in 1939 was won by Dutchman Albert Van Schendel. His brother Antoon had also won a stage in the previous edition. Annecy is also the birthplace of Jeannie Longo.