Tour de France: Stage 17: St. Jean-de-Maurienne to Morzine
July 20th 2006 02:00
Bonjour tout le monde!
As we enter the last exciting stages of this year’s Tour de France, the yellow jersey has changed hands yet again during Stage 16. The maillot jaune is now in the hands of Spaniard Oscar Pereiro. Australian Cadel Evans finished 4th in this stage; the result pushing him up into 5th place overall. He still has a good chance of winning (apparently 3rd in betting statistics). Michael Rogers remains in 7th place.
Now onto Stage 17: another mountain stage and one of the last in the race. Today’s journey is 201 kilometres long and will take us from St. Jean-de-Maurienne to Morzine. It has 5 categorised climbs and takes us winding through more beautiful scenery in the French Central Alps.
St Jean-de-Maurienne is the departure point for today’s stage. It is a village in the Savoie département and can be found in a valley of the Arc River. As you can probably tell by its name, St Jean-de-Maurienne was the former Episcopal see of Savoy during the Ancien Régime (the era of absolute monarchy until the French Revolution) and during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Stage 17 will end in Morzine. It is a town in the nearby Haute-Savoie département and is filled with ski chalets which are scattered on both sides of a river gorge. Morzine is located at a rather low altitude, but still manages to have the climate of a village high up in the Alps. This strange phenomenon has to do with its proximity to Mont Blanc and creates a micro-climate, allowing some great skiing. The terrain is more suited to beginners (both skiers and snowboarders), meaning Morzine is really popular with families. The resort does have more challenging slopes, great snowboarding tracks and most importantly for some: a vibrant nightlife. Morzine is also great during the summer, attracting keen mountain biker riders, golfers and good old walkers.
For more information on these 2 places, click on the links below:
St Jean-de-Maurienne’s official council site
Morzine’s ski resort website
That’s it for today. Go Cadel Evans!!!!
À demain
Melinda
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