Stage 9 of the Tour de France and it is a 192.9km long mountain race that starts in Aigle (Switzerland) and ends in Châtel les Portes du Soleil (France)
The Map
Aigle is well known for the most famous Swiss wine, Chasselas, a dry white wine and much of what looks like fields in the photo are in fact vineries.
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| Aigle, Switzerland |
There is 12 century Aigle Castle, which now houses the Vine and Wine Museum, an art exhibition space called Espace Graffenried, a cloister church and an old street which hasn't changed in centuries with cobbled streets and houses that are linked together with covered walkways.
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| Aigle Castle stand out from the other buildings and even the smaller houses appear to have their own vineyards rather than a garden. |
As the riders start out today they pass through Noville with it's temple that dates back to 1177 and the riders take in the beauty of Lake Geneva today including Villeneuve and Veytaux with Chillon Castle. Built in the 12th century by the Savoy family to control passage through Lake Geneva it has served as an arsenal, a prison and as the home of the Counts of Savoy, for a short period at least. It is the most visited historical building in Switzerland. Also along the shores of Lake Geneva is Montreux, a popular holiday resort with grand hotels and posh houses, it is also famous for its annual Jazz festival and there is a bronze Freddie Mercury statue here. Freddie had a house in Montreux and it is also the place where Freddie is believed to have written the song "Bicycle Race" after watching Stage 18 of the 1878 Tour de France between Morzine and Lausanne whilst Queen were recording the album "Jazz" in Montreux at the time.
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| Freddie Mercury statue in Montreaux |
The town of La Tour-de-Peilz is where French painter Gustave Courbet, leader of the realistic movement, died in 1877. The Swiss Museum of Play is also local to the town. Vevey is where British writer Graham Greene, author of The Third Man, A Gun For Sale and many many more, spent the last years of his life and is also buried here and Corseaux is where the British writer James Hadley Chase, whose real name was Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond, and who also had many other pseudonyms, wrote more than 90 books spent the last years of his life and is also buried here. It is in this area where the race route almost double-backs on itself. Chexbres was home of oceanographer, physicist and aeronaut Auguste Piccard, who invented the bathyscaphe. Jongny is next along the route and not far from here, but not one the route, is Corsier-sur-Vevey, the home of Charlie Chaplin for the last 25 years of his life after being expelled from the United States on political grounds. There is a museum to him here.
Chatel-Saint-Denis has a 19th century neo-Gothic church and is about 18km before they reach Bulle, which has a 13th century castle and a little further along is Gruyères, which has an artificial lake, a 13th century castle and is famous for its cheese and just under 30,000 tons of it is produced every year. After a further 22km or so the riders pass Chateau-d'Oex with a population of 3,500. Actor David Niven lived there and is also buried there. The riders then take on the mountain pass of Col des Mosses before reaching the ski resort of Les Diablerets.
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| Les Diablerets |
From Les Diablerets the cyclists begin heading back towards France in earnest by making their way to Villars-Sur-Ollon, another winter sports resort. 27km further along the route is Monthey which is known for its carnival. There is also a 14th century castle. The next notable place on the route is Morgins, which is very close to the French border. The final place on todays race is the ski resort of Les Portes du Soleil and the town of Châtel, both in France. There is an old Customs House, which is now a museum and a musical sculpture along with the obvious ski resorts.
Who Won the Stage and Who Won What Jersey
The Stage winner is Bob Jungels for AG2R Citroen Team/FRA
The Yellow Jersey won by Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates.
The Green Jersey won by Wout van Aert for Jumbo-Visma.
The Polka Dot Jersey won by Simon Geschke for Cofidis/FRA.
The White Jersey won by Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates.
Combatif Award won by Thibaut Pinot for Groupama-FDJ/FRA
Leading team: Ineos-Grenadiers
The Challenge: Yesterday we had hills and today we have mountains - that is something you can always count on with the Tour de France! The start point today is L'Aigle, named after an eagle's nest that was found while the castle was being built. We're not quite sure how the eagle would have felt about this. In April 1803, a meteorite burst over the commune which must have been a bit of a sight for the people that lived there.
The challenge is simple; spin a space themed yarn. There is extra Kudos if you can come up with a wonderfully tenuous link to show how your yarn is space themed.
Suggested Fibre: For any easy hole-in-one, we'd recommend using our Space Dyed Range.
What I did
As it happens I do have a few braids of fibre that are Space -dyed, including one of the oldest braids that I own so I ill use this one. Technically its the sister braid to the colourful one I spun a few days ago. This one is 70% Shetland Wool, 30% Tussah Silk and is called Dapple.
I decided to split this braid into two along the length of it so creating two long thin lengths to spin from and I spun from the same end of both of them so that when plied the colours should come together, for the most part at least but there will be areas where it barber-poles.
The finished yarn is double-knit weight and is 100g/253m and is very pretty and contains most of my favourite colours and in terms of the TdF length calculations is 759m - 2 singles plus the plied length = 3 x finished yarn length.
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