We will leave Nyons this morning and travel to Gap to catch today's stage finish before spending the next 2 nights in beautiful Annecy.
Stage finish in Gap We will leave Nyons this morning and travel to Gap. On arrival, we can enjoy some lunch in the old town centre then head off on a ride around some of the local cols, returning to Gap in time to see the race arrive. We’ll make our choice of rides once …
Stage finish in Gap
We will leave Nyons this morning and travel to Gap. On arrival, we can enjoy some lunch in the old town centre then head off on a ride around some of the local cols, returning to Gap in time to see the race arrive. We’ll make our choice of rides once we have a bit more info on the race route in to town, but don’t panic, the Cols are not monsters in this part of the Alps and rarely reach over 1000 meters, so starting from Gap at 720 meters the climbing won’t be too strenuous.
Our hotel for the next few nights is a short 18 kms from Gap, so our race experience for the day is a stage finish. Finishes are great fun to see with the caravan coming through a few hours before the race and then the endless parade of journalists and official vehicles before the riders finally arrive in the afternoon around 5pm. You might head down to the team buses that are normally behind the finish line. It’s a great place to see the riders after a hard day at the office.
After the race finish we will travel to Ancelle, just north of Gap, where we spend the next 2 nights in a charming 3 star hotel with spacious traditional rooms and an indoor heated pool to relax your tired bodies. Ancelle is a pleasant little typical alpine village sitting at 1,350m above sea level.
TODAY IN THE RACE
Stage 17: Pont du Gard to Gap, Hilly, 206 kmRiders return to a long 200+ km stage as they head toward the French Alps. The early stages will highlight the historic sites along the Rhone Valley, including the theatre in Orange before the village of Vaison-la-Romaine. Winds are possible to challenge the peloton and favour a breakaway. The final climb under 10km to go will turn a cohesive breakaway against each other.