Tour de France in the Aravis Area

If you're a road cycling fan - either on or off a bike - then you will have seen the local cols regularly feature in the Tour de France over the past few years. We have witnessed some memorable battles and seen all the famous names riding by our doorstep. Grand Bornand has hosted 2 stage finishes in recent years.

The Tour de France is the premium road cycling event in the world attracting the best road cyclists trying to achieve the kudos of wearing the famous yellow jersey as the overall race leader. The race is held over three weeks and is made up of three types of cycling - flat stages, mountain stages and individual time trials. A typical tour covers an average of 3,500 kilometres - the most testing of which are the high mountain stages over the enourmous cols of the Alps in the mid-summer heat of July.

The spectacle of 200 riders in colourful race jerseys bravely tackling the immense climbs in our area is one not to be missed. The excitement and atmosphere of standing roadside near the top of a col willing the riders to give their everything to make the climb in front of the pack is electric. The Tour often passes through very close to the Lodge, due to the fantastic Aravis mountain cols such as Col des Aravis, Col de Colombiere and Col de la Forclaz. In both 2007 and 2009 a stage ended in Grand Bornand - with last year featuring the exciting Annecy Time Trial stage - a fantastic opportunity for our guests to share in such an exciting event.

Dates for 2011 now released!

Sadly, the Tour de France will not be visiting our corner of France again this year but we do have a special event planned for mid-July to pit yourself against the routes of the Tour de France.

Tour de France Challenge Weekend - Thursday 14th July 2011

As the pro-riders take on their first mountain stages we propose a superb weekend challange which offers you the chance to ride most of the local Cols made famous in previous tours. We can also offer the chance to ride a full stage and see how easy these guys make it look! Finally - pit yourself against the clock for a re-run of the Annecy time trial stage...

Further details of this challenge weekend will appear shortly - but please contact us to register your interest.

If you would like more details about staying with us during the Tour de France please contact us on info@bikeweekender.com for futher information. We will be offering fully catered chalet accommodation on a flexible basis for just 65 euros per person per night.