That the general classification riders might conserve their energy in stage six is all about what’s to come. The final weekend of the Tour de France Femmes is truly something to behold. The penultimate stage from Champagnole to Le Grand-Bornand is also the longest stage of the race.

In total, the riders will cover nearly 170 kilometers. It will be a day full of climbing with ascents of the Col de la Croix de Serra (12 km at 5.1%), the Côte de Bois d’Arlod (2.4 km at 4.6%), and the Côte de Cercier (4 km at 4.9%).

This will undoubtedly take its toll, but hopefully the riders will have conserved some of their strength. The finale is even tougher, with two more challenging climbs in the last twenty kilometers. The climbing fest begins with the Col de Saint-Jean-de-Sixt (5.4 km at 5.1%), with its summit located eleven kilometers from the finish line.

Afterward, the riders will descend briefly before facing the Montée du Chinaillon (7 km at 5.1%), which is the next and final challenge of the day. The finish line is also on this final climb in Le Grand-Bornand.

The finish is thus in Le Grand-Bornand, a place that has featured several times in the Tour de France route. In 2009, the seventeenth stage of the world’s biggest cycling race ended in this Alpine village. At that time, the summit was not reached after a climb but rather the riders descended towards the ski resort.

Three riders managed to cross the finish line together that year. Alberto Contador wore the yellow jersey and, along with the Schleck brothers, gained a lot of time on competitors such as Vincenzo Nibali, Lance Armstrong, and Bradley Wiggins. The stage win went to older brother Fränk Schleck, while his younger brother Andy finished third in his white jersey in Le Grand-Bornand. Linus Gerdemann, Rui Costa, and Julian Alaphilippe also won there at some point.