Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2022 Stage 11 - Albertville to Col du Granon Serre Chavalier (France)

Stage 11 of the Tour de France and it is a 151.7km long mountain race that starts in Albertville and ends in Col du Granon Serre Chavelier 

The Map

Sights and points of interest along the route

Albertville is at the centre of one of the largest ski areas in the world and hosted the 1992 Winter Olympic games.  It also has a rich nature reserves.  In Conflans, listed building Maison Rouge, built in 1397, is home of the Albertville Museum of Art and History.

Maison Rouge, Conflans

Also in Conflans is the Savoy Heritage Museum, 11th century Saracen Tower, the Baroque church of St Graat and many more historical sites.  The races starts and one of the first towns is Aiton, known for its fort which later became an army disciplinary centre with a sinister reputation that led to its closure in the 1972.  It has since been replaced with housing, a restaurant and a town hall.  The tour moves on to Val d'Arc, La Chambre and 12th century Collegiate Church of Saint-Marcel.  Then comes the upwards 782m climb of the serpentine roads of Lacets de Montvernier.

Lacets de Montvernier

Just over a third of the race is complete as they hit Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne with Cathedral of St John the Baptist, originally founded in the 6th century, rebuilt in the 11th century and enlarged in the 15th century.  Saint-Julien-Mont-Denis and onto Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne where 425 reservists were killed in 1917 in the most tragic railway disaster in France.  The riders now take the mountain pass of Col du Télégraphe with its fort of the same name and played its part in WWI defence.  Onto the winter sports resort of Valloire and each July they create 12 giant "sculptures" made from hay and straw.  They are then on display all summer.  The alpine pass of Galibier (2642m) is the natural border between Northern and Southern Alps.

Col du Galibier

The Roman spa of Le Monêtier-les-Bains has a Museum of Sacred Art and also the 15th century Church of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption.  Saint-Chaffrey is at the foot of the Col du Granon mountain pass.  There is a lot of cycling challenges that can be done in this area and there is a mountain biking park designed for all levels of abilities.  Serre Chavalier is an area of white water, so white water rafting is available here too as well as being a large ski area in the winter.  Saint Arnould Chapel and Church of Saint-Chaffrey are two non-sporting sites of interest.

Who Won the Stage and Who Won What Jersey

The Stage winner is Jonas Vingegaard for Jumbo-Visma.

The Yellow Jersey won by Jonas Vingegaard for Jumbo-Visma

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 Warren Barguil for Team Arkea - Samsic/FRA

Leading team: Ineos-Grenadiers

The Challenge: The race is back on a mountain stage today; some will try to get an early lead while others will take a steady pace.  The finish line is a Col du Granon where you can find Ouvrage Col du Granon.  This is a little extension of the Maginot Line's Alpine Line.  This will be the highest finishing point of a stage for 25 years, so our riders are going to need to steel themselves for this!

Whether you're a tortoise or a hare today's challenge should, well, challenge you!  Consistency is our aim today; set a timer for 5 minutes and aim to spin as consistent a single as possible.

Suggested Fibre: If you've bought some fibre from our shopping list we've suggested using Red Eri Silk to make things that little bit harder.

What I did

I don't have Eri Silk, well not on it own at least so I have used today to just spin one of the older fibre braids.  I've not had it that long myself as it was part of a de-stash by a fellow spinner.  This is part of the fibre club that I used to belong to but this one was released long before I joined.  Its from August 2015 and based on a William Morris design called "Strawberry Thief".

I just split it into two by finding the mid point and pre-drafted it, which made it look a bit different.

The fibre content of this one is 62.5% Merino, 25% Corriedale and 12.5% Mulberry Silk.  I spun it to sport weight and got 99g/216m which in terms of the TdF length calculations is 648m - 2 singles plus the plied length = 3 x finished yarn length.