Last week former 44|5 spreadsheet guru, John H and I, drove up to the northern Alps for one last ride in the mountains this season. I wanted to go and see what the first three climbs of next year’s Etape du Tour looked like, because I didn’t know any of them and my street cred with clients depends on me knowing some things. I don’t know if I now know enough, but I know that know more than I knew.

From your start in Albertville there is a large, flat road that will be an excellent and fast warm-up to your first climb (Côte d’Héry-sur-Ugine: 11.3km / 5.1%), which starts right in the town of Ugine. You are now on a pretty secondary road that really doesn’t go anywhere except to the village of Héry, before dropping down to the main Ugine-Megève road. The climb is steeper than its average in the beginning, but it’s just a great little effort to get the legs ready for what’s to come. Caution: The short decent to the main road has a lot of tight turns that somehow don’t look as nasty as they are.

You’ll be glad for those warmed-up hams for the next climb on the menu (Col des Saisies: 13.7km / 6.4%). Don’t let that average fool you – the first 10 km are between 8% and 11%. There’s a little descent near the top that messes with your numbers here. Pretty views, though.

Once you reach the ski village of Les Saisies, you’ll certainly be treated to a ravito (feed stop) – you are now 40km into your day. You have a very pretty descent with wonderful views of the Beaufortain.

Which brings you down to Beaufort, where you can grab some AOP cheese on the run, if this is your choice of cycling protein.

From the village of Beaufort you immediately start climbing towards climb #3 (Col du Pré: 12.6km / 7.7%). Again, those percentage numbers mean very little. From what I recall, you have very little under 8% for the first 4km, when you flatten out some through the village of Arèches. Then it’s 9% to 11% the rest of the way, getting steeper as you climb. The views back down the first part of the climb are great, though, and then you get hit with glimpses of Mont Blanc and you’ll have the Cormet de Roselend (climb #4) right in front of you at the top.

The last photo above is the dam you cross before climbing to the Cormet – one of most picturesque climbs in the Alps. I hope it’s warmer for you in July – we had zero degrees and frost on parts of the road.

Everyone attacks these events differently, so it’s hard to give advice, but for most of us mortals, steeper climbs mean more effort. More effort means burning those elusive matches, which you certainly want to have on the last 20km climb on the menu. If I were riding this one, I would try and stay well under the red on the Col du Pré, which is near enough the start that you are feeling good, but still far enough from the finish to potentially be trouble if you overcook it.

I’ll get back for the rest next year, after the melt!