The Stage Is Set.

The route for the Tour de France 2013, and more importantly (to me at least!) the Etape du Tour has been released. The course is a 130km loop to the south of Annecy, finishing on Annecy Semnoz:

As the profile shows, there's very little flat on the course, and just over 3,000m of climbing.

Honestly, my first reaction to the announcement of the route was disappointment.

With this being the 100th Tour de France, and the grandeur of some of the other stages in the race - Mont Ventoux, Alpe d'Huez, Col du Glandon and Col du Madeleine, I thought we were in for something spectacular. A real 'must do'. Instead this route seems to be an after-thought.

After I had mulled my initial thoughts however, a re-evaluation brought the positives to the fore:

1. The course is a loop, meaning that providing I can actually secure an entry, the logistics of competing are far easier.
2. The course is indeed short but the lack of flat km's means this is still a real test of fitness
3. This is the last stage of the Tour before Paris - surely there's a challenge there somewhere? And there is:

The final climb, although short at 11km, averages 8.5% gradient, with some really nasty bits on the way up. This will have a lot of under-prepared riders blowing after 120km - there'll be little chance of getting into rhythm and is likely to be an out-and-out grind where every turn of the pedals will be a battle against common sense.

A final plus point for my participation of the Etape 2013 is that I have found someone willing to undertake the challenge with me. So providing we can both secure entry, Jon and I will be loading up the car and driving to Annecy for our first etape on the weekend of 7 July 2013.

Time to put a training plan together...