Day 1: Thonon-les-Bains to Megeve 67.6 miles 10,313 ft of climb (as recorded by Strava).

Once again, our first hotel, this time an Ibiz, was ideal for our purposes with plenty of space to spread ourselves out and assemble our bikes and faff with our kit much to the amusement of the other residents. Phil's bike was still in one piece despite the hammering his bike box had taken the previous day from the baggage handlers. Breakfast was taken on the terrace and it was already clear that a hot day was in store.

After the customary "start of tour" posed photos overlooking Lake Geneva we started our various GPS devices at just after 9.30 am and battled with Thonon's one way system as we searched for the right road out of the town.

Posed start of Tour Photo in Thonon -Les -Bains overlooking Lake Geneva

Despite all of Phil's Vitriol of Chris's Garmin in the Pyrenees last year he had gone out and bought a top of the range device for this year's tour. And his Garmin almost caused us to be late for our flight from Bristol as at the last minute we helped Phil transfer my ride GPS routes from his Apple laptop onto his device before setting out for the airport. Mind you at least it meant that for the first year Phil knew where he was going and he didn't have to rely on my list of villages, towns and road numbers each morning.

The area of flat hinterland around Lake Geneva is small and it wasn't long before we were sweating up though woodland to climb our first col, the Col de Moises (1121 metres) which with an average ascent of 6.6% and the steepest part at 8% just below the summit required plenty of work to start the tour. The descent down to the village of Harbere-Roche provided a welcome stop  for a coffee and to refill our water bottles as this was the first checkpoint  of the Raid at the local boulangerie.

Col de Moises

Next up were the minor cols of the Col de Terramont (1094 metre) and the Col de Jambaz (1027 metres) before a sweeping descent down to Megevette. Just after the turn off to the Col de la Ramaz I spotted a deer in a field and then I let out a whoop of delight as in front of me was a fabulous view across to Mont Blanc with it's snow covered whale-back summit clear of cloud -a mountain I had climbed nearly 11 years ago.

The first few kilometres of the Col de la Ramaz (1608 metres) through the chalets and farms  are at 8%, then the road eases of to 2% for over a km. After a further 3km of switchbacks through the forest, the serious stuff begins. The road is now cut into the plunging hill side above the Gorges du Foron, and the gradient alternates 9%, 7%, 9% and finally 10% at the steepest section through a tunnel. The ever-changing gradient means it is hard to settle into a rhythm.I was glad of the shade under the avalanche shelters and in the tunnel: the mountainside here is south-facing and we were in the full blast of the sun. The road finally levels out to a more reasonable 5% as it reaches and curves around the col de la Ramaz and the Sommand plateau for another 3 km.

Lunch stop near the top of the Col de la Ramaz

The Col de la Ramaz summit

The Col de la Ramaz (the highest point of our first day) has only been used 4 times so far by the Tour de France, in 1981, 2003, 2010 and 2016.In 2003, the Col de la Ramaz was the principle difficulty of the 7th stage, from Lyon to Morzine/Avoriaz. The French favourite Richard Virenque delighted the crowds with a 190km breakaway, winning both the stage and the yellow jersey. This was in spite of Armstrong’s US Postal in hot pursuit! Virenque paid for his efforts the next day, losing the yellow jersey and over 7 minutes to Armstrong on the climb to Alpe d’Huez.

By the time we reached the summit at 13.40 we were gasping for liquid and food. A superb spaghetti- bolognese hit the spot  and despite some cramping I felt energised to continue. At the ski station of Praz-de-Lyz there was only one shop open for our precious Alpine Raid stamp but the owner gave us each a free gift of a head scarf which was to prove invaluable as the week wore on. 

Views across to Mont Blanc (now shrouded in cloud)

There were warnings that the next section of road was closed due to road works but given that the alternative diversion was a considerable way round we continued on the descent. Eventually the barriers across the road prevented us going any further. We pleaded with the road workers in our broken French to allow us to walk through as there was no way we were going to retrace our steps. Eventually they saw sense and let us through and we enjoyed a traffic  free descent to the D902 which led us down to Taninges. Another ascent to St-Sigismond bypassed Cluses before we hit the l'Arve valley floor. I got on Chris's back wheel and surpisngly we opened a small gap over Phil. 

We should have stopped at Sallanches before the final ascent to Megeve but for some reason Chris kept going and I failed to reign him in (he is so strong). Shortly afterwards Phil texted us clearly somewhat exasperated to find that we hadn't stopped. 

The final slog up to Megeve was very hard work in the evening heat and I had to stop a couple of times to draw breath and drink the tepid fluid from my water bottle. I eventually arrived at Chalet d'Antoine in Megeve  at 18.45 some 15 minutes behind Chris and 20 minutes ahead of  Phil who had sensibly stopped at Sallanches for a cafe stop. The hotel seemed barely open, they weren't serving dinner and had no beer on tap but at least they were happy to wash out our sweaty kit for 7 euros. 

Megeve is a posh ski resort at one time favoured by the French aristocracy and nowadays it is still visited by affluent people as evidenced by the prices of apartments in the estate agents windows. We enjoyed an excellent meal at a local restaurant in the town centre and like most evenings to follow retired to bed early.

Day 1 Route