Stage 10 profile
Alejandro Valverde pipped Lance Armstrong to the line, while the Texan's rivals were left trailing in his wake.

Your Tour experiences and comments

I was in Courchevel 1850 as the Tour came through. We were waiting at the 4km mark, and although just around the corner from the TV screen to keep updated, everyone was feeding back race news. The crowd atmosphere was great (I think we were in a Lance supporters group section!) and everyone was respecting each others space and photo opportunitites. I completely missed taking a photo of Lance, as we were told frequently they would be coming through any moment soon, but there were so many motobikes around the lead group, and they cycled so fast we barely had a chance to cheer! After the motorbikes had gone we had a much better view of the other riders - it must have been disheartening for the riders at the back of the race as those who had finished were riding back down the course, when they still had four km to go! The next morning we saw the agr2 and T mobile teams leaving their hotel to travel down to Le Praz for the start of the next stage, we cheered them on from our hote! l balcony, and were very excited to find in the evening that Vinokourov had won that day's stage, when we'd been wishing them all luck that very morning!
Bev Phillips, France

Some friends and I were mountain biking around Courchevel last month. Just for "fun" we decided to ride from Moutiers to the Altiport at Courchevel, which is the last 27km of stage 10. I cannot believe the riders on the Tour actually race up that. It was a life-changing moment for us just to make it to the top. Awesome.
Andy Pillidge, Cobham, Surrey

My wife and I will be at the Courcheval and St Lary Soulon stages this year. We also hope to climb Alpe D'Huez and Mont Ventoux as part of our own little challenge. If we can get a couple of extra days off work we'll be in Paris for the finish.
Gordon Muir, UK

I climbed the Cormet de Roseland in early June from Beaufort following the route of this year's tour. The first section from Beaufort to col de Meraillet is tough and hot before it flatens out with a great view over the lake and dam where part of the Italian Job was filmed. The final section is steep and pretty windy when we climbed it and still some snow at the top. Then a fantastic re-surfaced road off the summit and a great descent down towards Bourg St Maurice. I hit 65kph Tour riders will be doing 80kph. Pretty exhilerating! I hope to be watching that stage from Courcheval this year.
Helen Prandy, UK

Last Year I went with some chums to watch the time trail stage up Alpe d'Huez. We had a tent but no where to camp. There were so many people there that the camp sites were full. So we only had 3 options:

• 1. sleep in the car, not really an option as the car was Citroen 2CV.
• 2. sleep on the road, not an option as there were cars using it.
• 3. sleep in a field.

From Courmet-de Roselend, the riders plunge into the valley town of Bourg St Maurice, last stop on the train line up the Tarentaise valley. About 45 minutes further up the valley are the ski resorts of Val d'Isere and Tignes, while access to Les Arcs goes from the outskirts of Bourg. Making a right in Bourg, the peloton will begin a general descent following the banks of the Isere river. The road is fairly fast and undulating, with steep drop-offs in places, as I almost found to my cost when nearly spinning a jeep over the edge on a sheet of ice in winter.

This road on a busy transfer day in the ski season can be tail-to-tail cars and coaches, especially if the road is closed for avalanche reasons further up. In 1995 I was stuck motionless outside the town of Aime for five hours with a coach-load of angry clients, eventually sleeping in Moutiers town hall when they missed their flights. What a happy bunch they were. But the peloton will have smooth passage and will soon plunge into Moutiers, something of a frontier town. It's not the prettiest, except for a few streets around the old centre which are OK.

At a roundabout just before town, the riders will swing left and begin to climb again, following the river past the fork to the ski station of Meribel on the right. The route drops briefly past the spa town of Brides Les Bains, site of one of the Olympic villages in 1992, before pointing upwards again. From here there will be no more free-wheeling. Just pure grunt. Having driven up and down this road about a thousand times in my days working in Courchevel, all I can say is I'm glad I never had to cycle it.

About 20 minutes past Brides is the turn off to Courchevel on the right, and if the riders thought they had already been working hard, it's about to get harder. The road up to Courchevel is a classic series of tight alpine switchbacks, though the patches of pine forest which will at least provide a modicum of shade. Passing various hamlets, the first major settlement is the village of St Bon, the historical centre of the region, before the road emerges onto the sunny plateau of Le Praz, or Courchevel 1300m, the lowest of four different levels to the ski resorts of Courchevel.

Le Praz is a pretty village with a lake and the unmissable site of the ski jump used in the 1992 Winter Olympics. But the riders won't have time for sight-seeing. After Le Praz the road continues up, past Courchevel 1550m and then 1650m, where my brother and Mum will be watching on the corner.

After the main street of 1650, lined with shops, bars and cafe and restaurants, the peloton will again enter the woods, turning one last major switchback before emerging into Courchevel 1850. But the agony is not over yet. The riders must power through the hotel-lined entrance to the resort, and negotiate a tight roundabout before climbing up through the centre of town and through the area known as "millionaire's row" which houses some of the world's most luxurious and expensive ski chalets.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was said to have offered several owners a blank cheque for a property here, but all refused.

The end is in sight and the road passes under a tunnel beneath Courchevel's airstrip before the finish at the Altiport, altitude 2004.
Rob Hodgetts, BBC Sport

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