Climb to Cormet de Roselend
Departure point: Bourg St Maurice
Getting here: A430 then N 90+train
Altitude: 1968
Km: 19.3
Elevation gain: 1133 m
On each of its faces, the final kilometres of the road leading to the Cormet de Roselend were only laid down as part of the huge-scale hydroelectric work on the Beaufortain massif. They were only completely covered with asphalt at the beginning of the 1970s. For this reason road races have been using this route, which has quickly become a classic, for less than half a century. The Tour de France, for example, tackled it for the first time in 1979, before returning on a further 9 occasions until 2009. However, while many exploits and dramas have played out to this high-mountain backdrop, the Belgian Johan Bruyneel, the future sporting director of Lance Armstrong (from 1999 to 2010), made a truly miraculous escape here. During the 6th stage of the 1996 Tour finishing in Les Arcs, live on television, he missed just below Crêt Bettex one of the most perilous bends of the steep descent down to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. After freefalling into the ravine, he managed to grab hold of the branches of the bushes which broke his fall, some dozens of metres further down, climb back up the rocks and emerge onto the road unscathed. He then remounted a replacement bike handed over by his flabbergasted mechanics and set off to complete the stage.
The ascent starts by the long Chapieux valley and its tumultuous torrent. You will leave with the well-named Ville des Glaciers (“Town of Glaciers”) on your right.
Getting here: A430 then N 90+train
Altitude: 1968
Km: 19.3
Elevation gain: 1133 m
On each of its faces, the final kilometres of the road leading to the Cormet de Roselend were only laid down as part of the huge-scale hydroelectric work on the Beaufortain massif. They were only completely covered with asphalt at the beginning of the 1970s. For this reason road races have been using this route, which has quickly become a classic, for less than half a century. The Tour de France, for example, tackled it for the first time in 1979, before returning on a further 9 occasions until 2009. However, while many exploits and dramas have played out to this high-mountain backdrop, the Belgian Johan Bruyneel, the future sporting director of Lance Armstrong (from 1999 to 2010), made a truly miraculous escape here. During the 6th stage of the 1996 Tour finishing in Les Arcs, live on television, he missed just below Crêt Bettex one of the most perilous bends of the steep descent down to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. After freefalling into the ravine, he managed to grab hold of the branches of the bushes which broke his fall, some dozens of metres further down, climb back up the rocks and emerge onto the road unscathed. He then remounted a replacement bike handed over by his flabbergasted mechanics and set off to complete the stage.
The ascent starts by the long Chapieux valley and its tumultuous torrent. You will leave with the well-named Ville des Glaciers (“Town of Glaciers”) on your right.
