Stage 18 Tour de France 2025

Food and Drink to Go with Stage 18 Tour de France 2025

Savoyarde specialities tend to be heavy, cheesy grub, and tartiflette is no exception.

It is made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, lardons and onions.

The name reblochon comes from the verb reblocher, to milk again. This practice developed as a way of avoiding rent to the landowner, since the sum payable was based on the amount of milk a herd produced. The second milking was only done after the amount of milk produced had been measured.

The second milking produces a richer milk, used to make reblochon cheese.

Vin de Savoie is often drunk with a traditional Savoyarde meal. The relatively high acidity is said to go well with cheese-based dishes and help digest them. Vin de Savoie is not the very best wine France can offer, though.

Sancerre, on the other hand, is reliably delicious.

Sancerre is an AOC wine region in the eastern Loire valley, not far from Orléans. It is made primarily with Sauvignon blanc grapes. The result is a dry but aromatic wine, with intense flavours of peaches and gooseberries.

Buy six bottles of Sancerre (affiliate link).

Vif

Stage 18 starts at Vif, which is a little town just south of Grenoble in the Isère département.

It is home to the Champollion Museum, which presents the daily life of Jean-François Champollion, who lived in the house and discovered Egyptian hieroglyphs.

A cement company called Vicat was founded in Vif.

Vizille

Vizille is a town in the Romanche valley, and the département of the Isère. It's on the route Napoléon, and close to the ski resort of Chamrousse.

Vizille was a fortified settlement (oppidum) in the pre-Roman period, then a Roman military camp or Castra Vigiliae. The Roman name mutated into Vizille.

The Château de Vizille was built for François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, between 1600 and 1619. In the C18th, it was owned by industrialist Claude Perier, who installed a textile factory in it.

Several Presidents stayed there when it was the property of the state, including Charles de Gaulle. It is now owned by the Isère département, and houses a museum dedicated to the French Revolution.

The Château has substantial land around it that was the private hunting grounds of the Duke. Today there are lawns, a canal, a wooded area, a rose garden, and an animal park.

Col du Glandon (Hors Catégorie)

The climb of the Col du Glandon is via the Défilé de Maupas to the Barrage de Grand Maison which retains the water of the Lac de Grand Maison.

The mountains to the riders' left are the Chaîne de Belledonne.

The climb continues via the Combe d'Olle to the top of the Glandon. In total, it is 21.7km at an average 5.1% to a height of 1,924m.

KOM competition: from 20 points for 1st place down to 2 points for 8th place.

The descent is towards Saint-Colomban-des-Villards.

Col de la Madeleine (Hors Catégorie)

The Col de la Madeleine is another long climb.

The riders make their way up to the ski resort of Saint-François-Longchamp at 1,587m.

Then the race continues to the Col de la Madeleine at 2,000m

The whole climb is 19.2km at an average 7.9%.

KOM competition: from 20 points for 1st place down to 2 points for 8th place.

Skiing Made Easy

Skiing Made Easy is a practical guide to learning to ski based on many happy seasons of ski teaching.

It takes you through the beginner's progression from snowplough to parallel turns, starting at the very beginning and not assuming any prior knowledge.

The book suggests relevant exercises to develop and improve your skills. Common faults are identified, along with the best ways to correct them.

'By the way' sections contain information about many of the little things that people assume you just know, but you may not.

'This is the book I wish I'd had when I started skiing' - reviewer on Amazon.

How to buy:

• get the paperback direct from the author at ValThorensGuide (cheapest paperback option)
• order the paperback from Amazon
• order the ebook from Amazon

Skiing Made Easier

Skiing Made Easier is the follow-up to Skiing Made Easy, and picks up from where the first book left off.

The first chapter is Refining Your Parallel Turns.

The chapters on ski technique beyond basic parallel turns are Carving, Short Turns, Bumps and Off Piste.

There are then further chapters on Avalanche and Mountain Safety, Ski Psychology, Physical Preparation, Ski Servicing and Alpine Wildlife.

As in Skiing Made Easy, common faults are identified and exercises suggested to correct them and to develop your skills.

'By the way' passages contain bits of skiing knowhow that could otherwise take years to pick up.

How to buy:

• get the paperback direct from the author at ValThorensGuide (cheapest option)
• order the paperback from Amazon

The Amazon URLs are affiliate links.

Moûtiers

Moûtiers is a modest-sized town at a bend in the river Isère, roughly half-way between Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Albertville. It serves as a hub for the ski resorts of the 3 Vallées (Courchevel, Méribel, and Les Menuires/Val Thorens).

Moûtiers may be uninspiring, but for ski resort workers it's the place where you get Winter tyres at the start of the season, and where you go for a big supermarket shop if you can be bothered to drive down the hill. It's either Carrefour at Moûtiers or Super-U at Salins-les-Thermes - both have their supporters.

The settlement here was called Darantasia in the Gallo-Roman period. The name Moûtiers comes from 'monastery'.

There's a small historic centre near the Cathedral Saint-Pierre.

Col de la Loze (Hors Catégorie)

The Stage 18 finish is via Courchevel then the winding road up to Col de la Loze.

Col de la Loze featured in the 2020 and 2023 Tours de France. These are highlights of Stage 17 of the 2023 Tour, to the Col de la Loze.

In 2023, the Col de la Loze was climbed from the Méribel side, whereas in 2025 it is climbed from Courchevel.

In total, the climb is 26.4km at an average 6.5%, to a height of 2,304m.

The top of the climb is also the stage finish and the Souvenir Henri Desgrange.

There is a physical monument to Henri Desgrange, director of the journal L'Auto and creator of the Tour de France. It's on the way up to the Col du Galibier, but when the Galibier is not on the route of the Tour de France, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange is allocated to a different climb.