While Froome, Aru, Quintana and their directeurs sportif start analyzing the Tour de France's course for 2018 — a 65km stage, Alpe D'Huez, cobbles! — Stage 10 is the one on which gran fondo riders are focusing their attention. 

On the 8th of July, nine days before the pro peloton battles over them, the cols of Stage 10 will host the mass of amateur riders taking part in 2018's L'Etape du Tour over closed roads.

Credit: L'Etape du Tour
L'Etape has grown into a 14-edition global series including L'Etape California, which Josh Mott reported on for granfondo.com. The original French outing is — and will always be — le grand fromage.

The stage starts in Annecy alongside the lake of the same name. After a loop down the western shore and then up the bottom half of the eastern side riders will head east into the mountains. The course comes close to the finish around 35 miles in before looping clockwise over the Gileres plateau, dropping into the valley below at Bonneville and climbing the cols de Romme and Colombiere.

At 169km it is a touch over 100 miles and while the last seven miles/12km are downhill riders will have earned them by the time they get there.

There is in excess of 4,000 meters (that's 13,000 feet) of climbing in the 157km before then.

L'Etape du Tour 2018 profile
Given the flattish first 25 miles that's a lot of up packed into the core 73 miles over the Col de la Croix Fry (1477m/4,847 feet), Col de Glieres (1390m/4,560 feet), the Col de Romme (1297m/4,255 feet) and the concluding Col de la Colombiere (1618m/5,308 ), which is often packaged as one with the Romme.

The cols aren't the highest in the Alps, but what they lack in pure size they compensate for in grade. The Col des Glieres has a substantial stretch of over three miles in double figures, and both the early stages and the last couple of miles of the Colombiere are either side of 10%.

It is going to hurt.

Read Andy Lulham's 2017 Etape du Tour report
Read Dan Baker's 2017 Etape du Tour report

For those tempted by a trip to la belle France, entry opens on Monday 23 October or book now with one of the three approved US tour companies:

Custom Getaways

Trek Travel

Thomson Bike Tours

THE BUCKET RIDER - PREPARING FOR YOUR FIRST OVERSEAS GRAN FONDO

Gravel on the plateau of the Col de Gliders. Credit: L'Etape du Tour
In a feature that will make American participants feel at home, there is over a mile of unpaved gravel track on the plateau after the Col de Glieres — cue jokes about the pros switching bikes.

Our UK sister site Sportive.com has prepared a detailed analysis of the parcours for the 2018 Etape du Tour - you can check it out here.

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