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L'Etape du Tour 2013 Details Released

by Henry Peacock

The 21st Edition of this event will take place on Sunday 7th July 2013, it copies the route chosen by the Stage 20 of the 2013 Tour de France which will take place on Saturday July 20th.

Riders will be welcomed by Annecy nicknamed ‘Venice of the Alps’; with its stunning lake and summit finishes it will be test for many. The length of the course is 130km with all the normal Etape closed roads and start village included. The route follows a big loop with the start and finish separated by a descent off the top of Annecy Semnoz at 1655m.

letape

The order of villages and towns that the route will visit is listed below:

Albertville (D1508) – St-Jorioz – La Chapelle St Maurice – Bellecombe en Bauges – Le Chatelard – Aillon le Vieux – Thoiry – St Jean d’Arvey – La Féclaz – Trévignin – St Offenge Dessus – Pont de l’Abîme – Gruffy – Quintal – Montée du Semnoz

Much of the route takes in only small hamlets and villages, which are located in protected nature parks. The various gradients along the route are distributed along the length of the course but the final ascent of Annecy du Semnoz will be a formidable 8.3% for 11km.

The various gradients for the different climbs along the route are shown below:
Côte de Puget (5,4 km à 5,8%)
Col de Leschaux (3,6 km à 6,2%)
Côte de Aillons-le-Vieux (6 km à 4%)
Col des Prés (3,5 km à 6,5%)
Col du Mont-Revard (16 km à 5,4%)
Montée finale du Semnoz (11 km à 8,3%)

Registrations will open 28th November, as always places will be filled very fast so we advise you to enter as soon as possible. There are guaranteed entries through various tour operators which can be found on the L'Etape du Tour website here.

In previous years there has been two Etape du Tour, Acte 1 and Acte 2, this year the organisers have decided to refocus on a single event due to the lower number yielded in the 2012 Acte 2. This means it will be bigger and better as participants have only a single chance to experience the event.

For more information please visit the website: http://www.letapedutour.com/ET1/us/homepage.html