Thursday 6th July: Arrival day

Arrival to Belleville en Beaujolais hotel by 7pm for arrival briefing.

Friday 7^th July 2023. Stage 13 – Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier – 103km

This is a Big Name Day but don’t let the excitement (trepidation?) of the Grand Colombier distract you from the beauty of the preceding 85km…

To start with Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne is a charming medieval town, also the Jura are genuinely breath taking mountains and top that off with some of the nicest descents of the Tour. If you cycle this stage, you’re in for a lot of lovely surprises.

Happily, on this stage we get to warm up gently, crossing the Saone valley as the Jura get ever closer. The green meadows and dramatic rocky outcrops lead us to the first (of two) big climb of the day -up onto the Hautville-Lompnes plateau (it’s high – you can ski here), famed since the 1920s for its health-giving fresh air (seriously). A long descent sweeps us down towards Culoz, the starting point for our second (massive) climb. Grand Colombier is always a treat when it appears in the Tour de France – it’s a steep, challenging road (17.4km at 7.1%, but touching 12% in places), with some of the most photogenic hairpins you’ll find anywhere and views out over the Rhône river and Lac Bourget (plus Lac d’Annecy, Lake Geneva, the Alps and even Mt Blanc if you’re lucky). Stunning!

Lite: This stage is a great way to start a Loop; not too long and focused on just two big climbs. However, if you’re really worried about managing it all, we’ll give you a lift to the first feedstop at 35km and your day just became a 100km beauty.

Le Loop Logistics
Start: Belleville en Beaujolais hotel or transfer to Chatillon sur Chalaronne (TBC)
Finish: Transfer to Annemasse

Saturday 8^th July 2023. Stage 14 – Annemasse to Morzine – 127km

This stage packs an almost unbelievable 4,100m of climbing into its relatively short length, with six major cols, and barely a kilometre of flat road. There’ll be views of Lac Léman (that’s Lake Geneva to the anglophones) as we pull away from Annemasse, but we’ll more likely be focused on the climbing ahead starting with the relatively benign Col de Saxel – it’s a gentle ascent through forests and meadows and nice warm-up for what’s to come. Next up is the Col de Cou (7km at 7.4%), quickly followed by the Col du Feu (5.8km at 7.8%) and the relatively trouble-free Col de Jambaz. We then enjoy a long descent, with a scenic balcony section (will you interrupt the descent to top for photos?), down to Mieussy – and then comes your short cut, taking you straight to Samoens, where we embark on our final challenge – the 1,691m Col de Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%). Some might find it difficult to relish this final ascent because your legs will be weary, but there’s a beautiful lake at the top, a blessed downhill finish into Morzine and the knowledge that you did all of this on a bike.

Lite: Start out the day with everyone else but at 87km you take a short cut direct from Mieussy to Taninges, cutting out 25km and all 1000m of the Col de la Ramaz climb. Your day is now 127km with 3100m of climbing.

Le Loop Logistics
Start: Annemasse hotel
Finish: Morzine hotel

Sunday 9^th July 2023. Stage 15 – Les Gets to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc – 152km

There are some tricky gradients in today’s stage (few of us will enjoy the 17% section during the final climb up to Saint-Gervais for example) but they are amply compensated for by some of the finest scenery the Alps have to offer. We have an easy start, with 30km of downhill or flat before we tuck into the 920m Col des Fleuries, which takes us over the hills to Annecy. Once there you roll alongside the heavenly blue lake for 10km and take your Lite short cut which is a long, shallow drag that turns into a shallow climb up to Megève, and then the fun that you’ve been saving yourself for begins – a fast descent down to Domancy, and then a really steep climb up towards Saint-Gervais, with the hardest section coming early on, to ensure that, after 3,200m of climbing, your legs really are finished by the time you reach the top. One week later the pros will be here, making history on the exact same climbs and their legs will be finished too!

Lite: A double short cut in the middle of the day takes you along the valley (with a 500m climb over 28km instead of 3 up/down climbs) from Bluffy to La Praise, removing 28km and net 1100m of climbing. So your day is now 152km with 3200 of ascent. This is probably a 2hr saving.

Le Loop Logistics
Start: Morzine hotel
Finish: St Gervais hotel (3 night stay for Grand Loopers, 2^nd half and Mountains Week)

Monday 10^th July: Departure day

Departure from St Gervais under own arrangements.

Stage profiles: All available stage profiles are displayed on our Route page. The Tour de France publish maps and profiles for every stage in June. Until then we have profiles for the mountain stages and the most significant climbs only.