Welcome to the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour, complete with four grueling climbs and a couple of sprints for good measure. Stage seven is enough to cause lactic acid build-up in your thighs through contemplation alone.
Wheeling out of Bourg-en-Bresse, the peloton with tackle their first ascent after 35km at Côte de Corlier, scaling 5.9km at a gradient of 5.5%. A sprint then follows at Anglefort before two further ‘king of the mountains’ at Côte des Petits-Bois and Côte Peguin.
The route passes through the Ain department of France, named after the River Ain, which flows into the Rhône.
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Next up, the Alps, and the Col de la Colombière, deemed the “first real mountain pass of the Tour” by official Thierry Gouvenou. With the finish over the horizon, riders will climb 16km at a gradient of 6.7%, before summoning the energy to mount a last burst to the line at Le Grand-Bornard.
In 2004, Lance Armstrong earned one of six stage wins in the town on his way to a sixth successive Tour crown. The American is the only rider to have won the Tour de France more than five times in a row, and remains the most successful cyclist in Tour history with seven titles.
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Le Grand-Bornard is situated between Mont Blanc and Geneva, in the Aravis Mountain range. A popular ski resort in the winter, the area enjoys magnificent vistas, lying in the shadow of peaks rising to 2,750 metres. The town is a stage destination for the second time.