Donger
Convoi Exceptionnel
- Location
- Quedgeley, Glos.
Now that the outline route for next year's Tour has been released, it is about time for people to be thinking about booking ferry crossings and campsites or hotels if they are hoping to attend a stage of the race. Anyone got any good tips for great places to park your bike and watch the action close-up? Between us we must be able to come up with a whole host of great places to watch the race go by.
I'll kick this off:
Stage 20 (penultimate stage) sees a repeat of part of a stage in the Vosges mountains in Alsace that was included in the 2014 Tour. This time, instead of being fixated on the Planche des Belles Filles, they are rightly making a feature of the Col du Petit Ballon and the Col du Platzerwasel as a pair of Cat1 climbs to finish a stage. If you can handle a Cat1 climb then the Petit Ballon might be the one for you. A beautiful climb up through the woods opens up into open country a couple of km before the summit:
That building you can see above is, believe it or not, a pub! Out in the middle of nowhere. From the beer garden of that pub, the Auberge du Kahlenwasen, you get an absolutely brilliant view down the road to the point where it emerges from the woods, probably giving you three or four minutes view of each rider as they climb up towards you and pass right in front of you just before they get to the summit.
The summit itself is nothing much to look at, but from just about where the above photos were taken, there is a little siding to the left with a great view over the edge of the Vosges to the Rhine valley and Germany beyond:
The climb up to this brilliant race viewpoint starts in the village of Luttenbach pres Munster:
The first km is the toughest, possibly being around 10 or 11%, but after that things settle down to a steady 7-8% up through the woods, with a few hairpins thrown in:
If you have to do a climb like that to get to a viewing point, then basing yourself outside a pub with access to drinks and toilets should make up for having to hang around for hours waiting for the riders to arrive. When I visited in 2018, I really envied anyone who had been able to watch the race from the Kahlenwasen back in 2014. Once the action is all over, you can carry on over the nearby summit and enjoy a lovely winding descent into Sondernach, turning right for a flat return on the valley road back to Luttenbach/Munster/Colmar, which are all within 20km.
The peloton will hang a left down in Sondernach to immediately start the climb of the Platzerwasel, but I wouldn't bother watching that climb. Just a big long drag through the woods with very few views until you get onto the Route des Cretes on the way to the Markstein. There are plenty of small touristy towns with camp sites down in the valley. Turkheim, Kaysersberg and Colmar spring to mind. I would base myself there for a few days and take advantage of some more climbs, the panoramas from the Route des Cretes and the beautiful villages of the Route du Vin along the edge of the Vosges where they meet the Rhine valley:
The area is an absolute jewel, and well worth everyone visiting once in their lifetime. To combine it with watching Le Tour rolling by, and to ride up to watch it from the Kahlenwasen on the Col du Petit Ballon would be a lifelong memory. Anyone got any other top tips for viewing next year's Tour?
I'll kick this off:
Stage 20 (penultimate stage) sees a repeat of part of a stage in the Vosges mountains in Alsace that was included in the 2014 Tour. This time, instead of being fixated on the Planche des Belles Filles, they are rightly making a feature of the Col du Petit Ballon and the Col du Platzerwasel as a pair of Cat1 climbs to finish a stage. If you can handle a Cat1 climb then the Petit Ballon might be the one for you. A beautiful climb up through the woods opens up into open country a couple of km before the summit:
That building you can see above is, believe it or not, a pub! Out in the middle of nowhere. From the beer garden of that pub, the Auberge du Kahlenwasen, you get an absolutely brilliant view down the road to the point where it emerges from the woods, probably giving you three or four minutes view of each rider as they climb up towards you and pass right in front of you just before they get to the summit.
The summit itself is nothing much to look at, but from just about where the above photos were taken, there is a little siding to the left with a great view over the edge of the Vosges to the Rhine valley and Germany beyond:
The climb up to this brilliant race viewpoint starts in the village of Luttenbach pres Munster:
The first km is the toughest, possibly being around 10 or 11%, but after that things settle down to a steady 7-8% up through the woods, with a few hairpins thrown in:
If you have to do a climb like that to get to a viewing point, then basing yourself outside a pub with access to drinks and toilets should make up for having to hang around for hours waiting for the riders to arrive. When I visited in 2018, I really envied anyone who had been able to watch the race from the Kahlenwasen back in 2014. Once the action is all over, you can carry on over the nearby summit and enjoy a lovely winding descent into Sondernach, turning right for a flat return on the valley road back to Luttenbach/Munster/Colmar, which are all within 20km.
The peloton will hang a left down in Sondernach to immediately start the climb of the Platzerwasel, but I wouldn't bother watching that climb. Just a big long drag through the woods with very few views until you get onto the Route des Cretes on the way to the Markstein. There are plenty of small touristy towns with camp sites down in the valley. Turkheim, Kaysersberg and Colmar spring to mind. I would base myself there for a few days and take advantage of some more climbs, the panoramas from the Route des Cretes and the beautiful villages of the Route du Vin along the edge of the Vosges where they meet the Rhine valley:
The area is an absolute jewel, and well worth everyone visiting once in their lifetime. To combine it with watching Le Tour rolling by, and to ride up to watch it from the Kahlenwasen on the Col du Petit Ballon would be a lifelong memory. Anyone got any other top tips for viewing next year's Tour?
