Cycling in Yorkshire
Cycling in Yorkshire
Stage
15 | Stage
16 | Stage
17
Stage 16 of the Tour de France 2023 is a 22.4km individual time trial from Passy to Combloux.
It includes a climb of the Côte de Domancy, which is famous in France as the slope where Bernard Hinault dropped his last rival for the road World Championship title in 1980.
'The only time trial of the 2023 race is characterised by its short distance and a profile that will suit those climbers who feel comfortable in this solo discipline. The famous Domancy climb is on the programme. At the same time, it provides an opportunity for the rider who's in yellow to assert his superiority or for his rivals to begin a fightback that could last a whole week.'
Christian Prudhomme's comments on Stage 16
One point of interest is whether the competitors swap their TT bikes for road bikes for the climb of the Côte de Domancy. Pogacar has been practising a bike change, so it seems very likely that he will swap bikes.
It takes at least 8s for a bike change, and the question is whether you can gain more than that on the Domancy climb.
I suspect that Jumbo Visma will not do bike changes, but as ever I could be wrong!
These are video highlights of Stage 16 Tour de France 2023.
This is the Stage 16 TDF 2023 Blog.
Race Details | Poll | Map & Profile | Timings | Videos | Food & Drink | Route Notes | Favourites
| Date | Tuesday 18th July 2023 |
|---|---|
| Stage classification | Individual Time Trial |
| Distance | 22.4km |
| Intermediate sprint | N/A |
| Climbs | Côte de Domancy (Category 2) |
This is a poll where you can vote for some of the main contenders to win Stage 16.
This is a map of the route of Stage 16, Tour de France 2023.
This is a zoom-able map of the Stage 16 Tour de France 2023.
This is the profile of Stage 16 Tour de France 2023.
| Caravan | First Rider | Last Rider | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Time | 1130 |
1305 |
1700 |
| Passy (1st time check) | 1141 |
1316 |
1711 |
| Domancy (2nd time check) | 1156 |
1331 |
1726 |
| Top of the Côte de Domancy (3rd time check) | 1201 |
1336 |
1731 |
| Finish Line Combloux (22km) | 1206 |
1341 |
1736 |
This is a video overview of the route of Stage 16 Tour de France 2023.
The Côte de Domancy was the scene of one of Bernard Hinault's
triumphs, where he dropped Gianbattista Baronchelli and went on to a
solo victory in the 1980 World Championships road race.
The race organisers will be hoping for packed crowds on the Côte de Domancy as in 1980.
The ITT on Stage 16 of the 2023 Tour is similar to the parcours of Stage 18 of the 2016 edition. Chris Froome was in his pomp at the time, and beat Tom Dumoulin into second place.
It's another day in the Alps today, so another evening meal of Savoyarde specialities - fondue, raclette, pierrade and tartiflette.
Fondue is usually made with comté and emmental cheese, garlic, white wine and kirsch. You prong a cube of stale bread with a long fork, dip it into the fondue and twist it round and round so the cheese stays in place, then bring it to your plate. It's often accompanied by boiled potatoes and salad.
Vin de Savoie is traditionally drunk
with a Savoyarde meal, but maybe you'd like to upgrade to a more
refined wine. The Rhône valley is close by and Côtes du Rhône might be a better bet
than Vin de Savoie.
Côtes du Rhône Villages is from the southern Rhône region. It includes wines made from grapes grown in villages such as Cairanne and Gigondas.
Stage 16 starts in Passy.
Passy is a town in the Arve valley near to Sallanches and Saint-Gervais-Mont-Blanc. It has 11,350 inhabitants.
For a long time people here lived a pastoral life. The first tourism was based around the Plateau d'Assy, and visitors went there hoping to improve their health and well-being. Marie Curie (d. 1934) spent her last days in Passy, at the sanitorium of Sancellemoz.
There's a little ski resort at Passy-Plaine-Joux.
The Lac Vert is a lake in the commune of Passy. Its water is very clear, with a green tint.
The parcours starts from Avenue Joseph Thoret in Passy, and continues on the Avenue de l'Aérodrome.
The riders climb to the Soudans district of Passy on the Route des Soudans. The race route crosses a stream called l'Ugine near a waterfall called La Cascade de Coeur. On the stage profile, the waterfall gives its name to this unclassified climb - the Côte de la Cascade de Coeur.
There's gentle descent west on the Route de Servoz, back down towards the river Arve in Passy.
The time trial route continues to Sallanches, where it crosses the river on the Pont de Saint-Martin and joins the Avenue Albert Gruffat/Rue des 3 Lacs.
From Sallanches, the competitors take the D1205 Route de Fayet to Domancy. There, the ascent of the Côte de Domancy begins.
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Domancy is a village and a commune, with 1,904 people living in the commune. It has an attractive church, the Eglise Saint-André de Domancy, which dates from 1717, with an older clock tower.
Much of the climb is wooded. There will be lots of spectators, including perhaps some four-legged ones.
The Côte de Domancy was the scene of one of Bernard Hinault's triumphs. Here, he dropped Baronchelli, and went on to a solo victory in the road race, to become the 1980 World Champion.
The road is now named after the French cyclist. It's called la
Route Bernard Hinault.
The official Côte de Domancy climb is 2.5km at an average 9.4% gradient. It finishes after 18.9km of the time trial course at a height of 810m, but after that it's still uphill, on the D1212 to the finish line at Combloux (974m).
Victor Hugo called Combloux 'the pearl of the Alps'.
It was a summer tourist destination from the 1920s, and attracted visitors for winter sports from the 1930s. Today, it has around 12,600 tourist beds. One of the summer attractions is an outdoor swimming pool which only uses aquatic plants and animals to filter and treat the water.
The ski resort is sometimes called 'Combloux 360°', because of the views in all directions to different mountain ranges. It has 100km of pistes, and is one of the cheapest resorts in Europe.
Combloux's C18th church, the Eglise Saint-Nicolas, is classed as a historic monument.
Stage 16 of the Tour de France 2023 is a time trial, but with a lot of climbing. It will be the climbers who can time trial who will do well, not rouleurs.
Candidates for the win include GC contenders like Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Wout van Aert can do everything including brilliant time trials, and cannot be ruled out.
It will be interesting to see the performances of Carlos Rodriguez, David Gaudu, Jai Hindley, Giulio Ciccone, Adam Yates and Simon Yates - all hoping for a good final GC result.
As a wild card, what about Mikkel Bjerg, the Danish rider with UAE? He won the ITT on Stage 4 of the 2023 Dauphiné.
Who do you think will win Stage 16?
Bradley Wiggins 2012 autobiography My Time.
Beaujolais is a wine made with Gamay grapes in the Beaujolais region. The region gets its name from the town and Lords of Beaujeu.
Gamay grapes are thin-skinned and low in tannins. They make light wines with relatively high acidity.
The Romans were the first to plant vines here, along their trading route up the Saône valley. Later, Benedictine monks did much of the wine-making.
Beaujolais Nouveau became very popular in the 1980s, with easy-drinking, fruity wines. In the late 1990s that popularity faded, and Beaujolais producers are now concentrating on more complex wines that are aged longer in oak barrels.
Fleurie is called the Queen of Beaujolais. It has floral notes, and aromas of blueberries and red fruits.
It doesn't get its name from flowers, though, but from a Roman General, Floricum.
Fleurie vineyards are on the west side of the Saône valley, facing south or south east. The soil is on pink granite, and is sandy higher up, with more clay content lower down.
La Madone is one of the best-known Fleurie wines, taking its name from a chapel on top of the hill.
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New in May 2023, Bike Rides in the Yorkshire Dales is available in colour paperback.
Find out more about Bike Rides in the Yorkshire Dales or buy a copy.
Bike Rides In and Around York features a historical city tour, plus family rides, road rides, and mountain bike rides.
Find out more about Bike Rides In and Around York or buy a copy.
Bike Rides in Harrogate and Nidderdale is a book of family, mountain and road bike rides.
Find out more about Bike Rides in Harrogate and Nidderdale or buy a copy.
Sallanches is a town of 16,000 people in the Haute Savoie département of France, just a few kilometres down the glacial valley of the river Arve from Chamonix. The river Sallanche joins the Arve on the edge of the town. Sallanches is sandwiched between the Aravis mountains to the west, and the Mont Blanc range to the east.
The names Sallanches is derived from the Franco-Provencal 'chalanche', and signifies a steep slope prone to avalanches. The town belonged to the House of Savoie from 1355 until the French Revolution, and again from 1814 (defeat of Napoleon) until 1860 (when much of Savoie was transferred to France).
Traditionally, Sallanches was a town of precision engineering. It is the home of Dynastar skis, founded in 1963 as a collaboration between the Dynamic and Starflex ski brands. Today, it serves as a commercial centre for the neighbouring ski resorts.
Rough Guide to France.
Price £17.99 from Amazon at the time of writing.
