Etape du Tour 2024 Recon between Nice and the Col de la Couillole

After a first missed date due to Covid in 2020, Nice, the capital of the Alpes Maritimes department, is returning to the forefront in 2024 by hosting the Étape du Tour, the major cyclosportive event. The route of the 20th stage of the Tour de France, on which the cyclosportive event will be based almost two weeks earlier, will link Nice on the shores of the Mediterranean to the Col de la Couillole, with 138 km and 4600 m of elevation gain. Despite some work in the Turini, we have carried out a reconbirth of the course the day after its official presentation.

By David Polveroni – Photos: DR / Images: ©ASO

138 km and 4600 m of elevation gain : we are here on a type of ratio distance/elevation found on the high mountain stagestagne. More than 30 km less than a famous Marmotte, with just under 400 m less positive elevation gain… Here you have an idea of ​​the difficulty that awaits you on July 7 for the 2024 Stage of the Tour. The 2022 event between Briançon and Alpe d'Huez offered the same style of course (with 30 km more!) but with longer climbs and more time at altitude…

course: HERE

A departure from the Mediterranean coast 

The start in the suburbs of Nice will probably already be fast. Even if the slope is gentle, it is there, from the first few hundred meters. The Col de Nice, which occurs after 15 km, marks the start of hostilities.. We take the little one route from Blaussac to climb for 4,5 km. In front, it will not leave the big chainring, but you have to manage quickly because we are on a course that wears you out! Then, you will find a very short descent, and we do not waste time. At Escarène, we are already in the Col de Braus.

The Braus Pass

The Braus Pass, It's 10 km at an average of 6,2%, but we are far from being on a regular pass like the Lautaret for example. Here, as soon as you leave Touet de l'Escarène, you find passages at 8/10% which will inevitably lead you down to the small chainring. Depending on your level and your pedaling style, a 34 chainring could be interesting on this real (high!) mountain coursetagne. Right away you have to find the right tempo. This pass nevertheless remains rolling with small flat areas. Halfway up for example, before you then attack a series of bends.

These legendary hairpin bends of the Col de Braus have been neglected by the Tour. Before the war, they were regularly used, with 27 passages and, after the war, there were only two passages. Keep in mind that the hardest part comes 2 km from the summit. After yet another curve on the right, the small wall with reddish tones: 14/15% over a few meters comes to glue you to the ground. A beautiful straight line which, in full sun, (it really is always beautiful in the south!) can quickly become suffering. But as an entrance at this time, we raise our teeth and grit them! As did the legendary René Vietto, the local, winner of the Sospel loop in 1931 at the age of 16. We will then remember that “King René” is one of those riders capable of a victory on the eleventh stage of the Tour in 1934 and of winning the prize of the montagand four stages dominating the Alps. We will pass in front of his stele after having taken a look on the right 2 km before to admire the legendary series of hairpins very appreciated by the drivers of the Monte Carlo rally. But we still have a few kilometers to go on this special…

30 km covered at the top of the Col de Braus, marked by a small flat area of ​​500 m before switching this time to what is called the Nice hinterland. The bends follow one another, about twenty hairpins, in three series, and the last three kilometers plunge us into the small town of Sospel. No time to admire the trompe l'oeil facades, since we must first go back up along the Bevera, this watercourse which has its source higher up at the Col de Turini.

The Turini Pass

This pass awaits us too. 3 km of downtime, and the Turini already looms before us. A climb broken down into two stages.

First of all the first part up to Moulinet. 7 km with percentagestagwhich allow us to apply what the city dictates to us:  4 to 6% maximum, a little grinding is a necessity here. We will leave the staircase bridge, reminiscent of the Great Wall of China (miniature version) marking the end of these Piaon gorges to then arm ourselves with watts and attack the thirty or so hairpins up to the Turini pass. 3 km of flat after the village, then 12 very regular km winding through the forest on modest slopes between 6 and 8% except for the last 2 kilometers at a little less than 5% to finish the climb in complete tranquility.

That's a big word, tranquility! On a reconbirth where one can take one's time, yes, here the tranquility of the place is very present. In July, the heart will be anything but peaceful.

Along these 24 km and 1260 m of elevation, you will have to have managed your nutrition so as not to have used up too much of your strength like the Colombians Bernal and Quintana on Paris-Nice 2019, thinning out on the side of our descent on the slopes of the Nice giant (that's what we could call it!): we are on the longest climb of this stage!

Here, at an altitude of 1608 m, you logically know how the rest of your Stage will unfold.. If you have managed these first 66 kilometres perfectly, if you manage to feel that you still have some left in you, it is the whole subtlety of the experience, which will mean that here we can switch to an ordeal or a second half which will be nothing but happiness.

A very long descent then, over 16 km, anything but relaxing. It twists in all directions, like the climb, the hairpins follow one after the other. We will come across the village of Bolène Vésubie, a hilltop village, almost falling into the Vésubie valley. A valley that we then find again after a total of 80 km after leaving Nice. We turn right and head straight towards the Colmiane resort.

The Colmiane Pass

La Colmiane, or sometimes called the Col Saint Martin, is a somewhat treacherous climb. This pass doesn't really climb. Up to Saint Martin de Vésubie. Its position in the event makes it a formidable pass that isn't on paper! It's a section where it's essential to eat and drink to best approach the end of the event. And when I say end, it's not the end of the Colmiane, because here it's already too late, you had to manage your Turini and your descent. The end: Col de la Couillole. But we're getting there.

Before that we have to fight on almost 9 km very regular between 6 and 8% to take us up to 1506 m at the Colmiane station, crossed only four times by the Tour de France, the last time in 2020, with Benoit Cosnefroy in the lead.

We then descend into the valley of… the Tinée this time! Still very focused, with once again 16 km of descent, but this slope requires less braking than that of Turini. The curves are easy to guess and there are only a few hairpins. The central part is quite fast and we then clear along the Tinée going back up towards the north after a 180° turn.

5 km of transition, on this flat or even false flat going up to the Col de la Bonette. We keep the Bonette for another day and we will stay on the routes well supervised by the Republican Guard and without cars: that's the Étape du Tour adventure, experiencing for one day what the pro feels for three weeks.

Hitting your head on the slope: that's what you're going to feel most here, in St Sauveur sur Tinée. We'll then take a very small route on the left, which descends for 200 m before really feeling like you are on another planet.

The Col de la Couillole: the highest point, the final touch!

The foot of the pass, lined on the side of the mountaintagne with red schist stones, gives you the impression of being in Colorado. No, here we are in the south of Mercantour, on the lands of the Mercantour Classic. YOUR story is written on this last appendage, the Couillole, with almost 16 km, it will have enough in 1000 m of elevation gain to make you understand if your training has been up to the event.

The FFC will be able to guide you with their experience as well as the services normally offered to professionals, in order to successfully complete your final preparation. It offers you, over five days, to identify and give you the best advice to manage and best approach your July 7.

View: HERE

In short, mental aside (yes, we think a lot about cycling) but here management is forgotten kilometer by kilometer. We let go of our last strength, our last sparks of energy, we remove the eyes that were fixed on the established watts to then tear ourselves away to follow the rider in front of us, we feel this little shiver inside us that invades us little by little because at that moment we know it! We know that then we will be so-gifted finisher, of this stage!

138 km, 4600 meters of elevation swallowed, from the first to the last, the feeling of duty accomplished must resonate within you!

What to remember from this 2024 Tour de France stage route:

• In the thick of it after 15 km
• The first two descents are not very relaxing, with a lot of braking and little slope. So it is more difficult to refuel, and less possible relaxation
• The Col de la Colmiane is a real difficulty due to its placement in the event, whereas on paper it is easy
• Fuel management is very important because it's relentless: a "nervous" Tour stage!

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