Semnoz () is a mountain of

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It lies in the

Bauges The Bauges Mountains (French: ''Massif des Bauges'') is a mountain range in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Eastern France, stretching from the city of Annecy, Haute-Savoie to the city of Chambéry, Savoie, which is part of the French Prealps. Major ...

range. It has an altitude of above sea level. The mountain is crossed by the D41/D110 road near to the Crêt de Chatillon at an altitude of .

Tour de France

The penultimate stage of the

2013 Tour de France The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The Tour consisted of twenty-one stages ...

(Stage 20) saw a summit finish on Semnoz, after departing from Annecy. The mountain has featured in the Tour previously, but this was during a neutralized stage in the wake of the 1998

Festina affair The Festina affair was a series of doping scandals within the sport of professional cycling that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France. The affair began when a large haul of doping products was found in a support car belonging to t ...

Details of the climb

The Crêt de Chatillon can be reached by road from three directions. From the south, the climb via the D110 commences at the village of

Leschaux Leschaux is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Savoie department The following is a list of the 279 communes of the French department of Haute- ...

from where the ascent is long climbing at an average gradient of 5.7% with a maximum gradient of 10.2%. From the north, the climb via the D41 commences in Annecy, from where the road is long climbing with an average gradient of 7%. From the west, the climb commences at

Quintal The quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units, such as pounds or kilograms. It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is com ...

and uses the D241 before reaching the D41 after . The total climb is long gaining in height at an average gradient of 8.2%. This is the route used on Stage 20 of the

and is ranked as an

Hors catégorie ''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass. The HC climb is the ...

climb. The route to the summit from the start at Annecy crosses the Col de Leschaux () after before descending to Saint-Jean-d'Arvey. Panorama Semnoz November 2014

References

Cycling Le Semnoz Map, Profiles, Photos
{{commonscat Mountains of Haute-Savoie Mountains of the Alps