June 14, 2025
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Les Verneys
via Col du Télégraphe
OPWe had a good ride today, though watching the Critérium du Dauphiné didn’t go as per any of our ideas.
I picked up a sandwich and a quiche from the boulangerie across the street while Al loaded his bike and we were off by 0830h. The only way to beat the heat is to start early!
We soon saw the arrows for the Dauphiné but stuck to our route when it first diverged. Then we came to the Best Western on the edge of town and had to stop and gawk. We weren’t the only passing cyclists who’d stopped to ride through the parking lot and look!
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When our route diverged again from the race route, we decided to follow the race route through Villargondran and Le Bochet. This was a nice quiet road, especially compared to our planned highway-with-a-bike-lane route, but it added maybe 100 m of climbing to an already big day. Just a speed bump to the likes of Tadej Pogačar but a sweaty effort for me.
Eventually we descended to pass under the railway and the autoroute and join our planned route on the highway (which will be closed for the race to pass through). Here we saw—scratch that, were passed by—many Lycra-clad roadies. It’s Saturday, after all.
We made a brief stop at the TI in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne to use the washroom. This particular TI was exceptional! The washrooms are clean and modern and available 24/7, along with a (pay) shower and vending machines if you need a snack in the wee hours. Plus the building is shared by a bike shop. Perfect.
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Leaving Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, we crossed a river and started climbing. The climb did not let up until Col du Télégraphe and I beg to differ with the fellow from the Opinel Museum. We clearly have different criteria when deciding whether a climb is “steep”.
There was also a lot of traffic. We suspect there were a number of factors for this:
- It’s a sunny Saturday in June
- Spectators are heading up the race course
- The road will be closed for a couple of hours this afternoon
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In any case, we got to the final divergence of the Dauphiné route from ours at 1130h. The race leaders weren’t expected until around 1600h, there wasn’t anywhere pleasant to hang out, so we continued up the final 3 km to Col du Télégraphe. For the second time today it seemed like it might rain, but it didn’t.
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Also on those last 3 km between the race course divergence and Col du Télégraphe, I saw two groups with kids on their own bikes. One had a couple (adults) on a tandem, two kids, and another adult. They turned on to the Télégraphe route at that intersection while Al and I were discussing our options. Later there was a woman with a child in a trailer and another on his/her own bike, descending. We both thought we’d be uncomfortable riding this road with kids, with its unprotected dropoffs and the weekend’s speeding motorcycles and sports cars.
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The descent to Valloire was very nice, even cool, but we aren’t staying in Valloire proper. We are staying in Les Verneys, about 3 km further and all uphill. Looking at the profile, it didn't seem like much, hence Al’s idea yesterday of dropping our bags and riding back to watch the race. On the day, though, with little shade and temperatures in the high 30s C, our decision on reaching our hotel was unanimous. We aren’t going anywhere!
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We were well before our check-in time at the Logis Relais du Galibier but there was a terrasse with some shade on one side and nobody else there, so we ate our lunch at one of the tables. First, though, I went to see if our room might be ready and we only had a few minutes to wait. Perfect. We’re not going anywhere!
After cleaning up, we went down to see about beer and whether there was a tv in the bar. Beer yes, tv no, so we had our beverages on the terrasse. When we went up to our room after, we discovered that we could actually watch live coverage of the race (in French) on the tv in our room. We watched the leader (Pogačar, of course) speed up the last 5 km.
Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 820 km (509 miles)
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