Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2022 Stage 17 - Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes

Stage 17 of the Tour de France and it is a 129.7km long mountain race that starts in Saint-Gaudens and ends in Peyragudes.

The Map

Sights and points of interest along the route

The race starts in Saint-Gaudens, where in 1989 two priceless Aubusson tapestries were stolen and not seen until 7 years later when they went on sale at Sotherby's in New York. One was "The Triumph of Faith", which is a copy of a painting by Reubens and the other was the Martyrdom of Saint-Gaudens which recounts the legend of the saint beheaded by the Visigoths. A long FBI investigation took place, the good faith of the seller was established and the tapestries recovered and returned their rightful owners, no doubt money was involved to solve the issue, but the original thieves have never been caught.  There is also the Saint-Pierre Collegiate Church, an Arboretum, the Monument of the Three Marshalls and a museum dedicated to Valentines Porcelain.

Saint-Gaudens

The first village is Labarthe-Rivière followed by Labroquère and Valcabrère, in the latter there is the Basilica of Saint-Just-de-Valcabrère and then quickly arrive at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, which was once a Roman city with a very impressive St Mary's Cathedral.  At Aventignan is the Cave of Gargas, one of the most famous decorated caves of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe.  Just over 31km along the route is La Barth-de-Neste with its 11th century Château and then the fortified village of Sarrancolin, famous for its marble used at Petit Trinon in Versailles, the Paris Opera House and The Empire State Building.  St Ebons church is located here.  The cyclists then come to Arreau before arriving at Aspin Pass which is a climb of 12km long and an average gradient of 6.7% and has featured in the Tour de France 74 times and will take them in the vicinity of Lake Payolle.

Lake Payolle

The cyclists then travel the Hourquette d'Ancizan, a mountain pass, before reaching Guchen an historic village with beautiful old buildings and a population of just 380.  An even smaller village of Bourisp and then onto the ski resort of Saint-Lary-Soulan before Val-Louron-Azet Pass at 110km on today's route.  Génos and Loundenvielle, two small villages before and even smaller Loudervielle (I bet those two are easily confused) with just a population of 54 before the race ends in Peyragudes, a ski resort.  Peyragudes featured in the opening scenes of Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, starring Pierce Brosnan.  There is the 11th century church of Saint-Aventin and 12 century Saint Anne's Church amongst all the winter sports activities.

Peyragudes

Who Won the Stage and Who Won What Jersey

The Stage winner is Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates.

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 Brandon McNulty for UAE Team Emirates..

Leading team: Ineos-Grenadiers

The Challenge: It is back in to the mountains today as the cyclists climb from Saint-Gaudens to the ski resort of Peyragudes... not that there will be snow here at the moment!  Saint-Gaudens sits along the Garonne River. 

Take a white fibre and jazz it up with a bit of colour, this could come from effect fibres, other wools or you could chuck it in a dye pot!

Suggested Fibre:  We took our natural tweed and added some sari silk to take us "off-piste" with this challenge.

What I did

I didn't buy the second special TDF2022 fibre "off-piste" as I have two braids that are very similar to it but not quite the right colours to look like water.  Instead, I chose a fibre that was blue and sparkly and has a water related name "Shimmering Cascade".  It is 87.5% Corriedale, 12.5% Nylon.

Another simple and straight forward spin, simply split the fibre into to equal halves, pre-draft and spin a nice even single and then ply.  The finished yarn is fingering weight and is 100g/239m which in terms of the TdF length calculations is 717m - 2 singles plus the plied length = 3 x finished yarn length.  Those "white fibres" in the yarn are actually sparkly fibres and its lovely and soft.