La Planche des Belles Filles () is a ski station in the

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

, in France. It is located in the

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

. Since 2012, the climb to the summit has been used several times during the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

cycle race.

Etymology and legend

The name ''Belles Filles'' literally means "beautiful girls", but is actually derived from the local plant life. The mountain is attested from the 16th century as ''lieu peuplé de belles fahys'', a "place inhabited with nice beech trees" in the local dialect. ''Belles fahys'' later became corrupted into ''Belles Filles'', though there remains a nearby village of Belfahy. Meanwhile, ''Planche'', "board", is derived from the nearby small town of

Plancher-les-Mines Plancher-les-Mines () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a small village close to the ski station at La Planche des Belles Filles. There is one elementary school locate ...

. A folk etymology, in contrast, holds that the mountain took its name from the time of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

. According to legend, young women from Plancher-les-Mines fled into the mountains to escape Swedish mercenaries as they feared being raped and massacred. Rather than surrender, they decided to commit suicide and jumped into a lake far below. One of the soldiers then took a board on which, with his dagger, he engraved an epitaph for the "beautiful girls". A wooden statue, created by a local artist, is a reminder of the legend.

Cycle racing

From

the climb to the finish at is long, gaining and averages 8.5% with a maximum of 14%, but with a short stretch from 22% to 28% near the finish.

Tour de France

La Planche des Belles Filles was first used as a finish in Stage 7 in the

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, i ...

, from

Tomblaine Tomblaine () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Stage 7 of the Tour de France on 7 July 2012 started in Tomblaine. The Stade Marcel Picot, football stadium to Ligue 1 side AS Nancy, is located within t ...

on 7 July. The stage was won by

Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one ...

with his team-mate

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...

taking the race lead. The steep finish proved popular, and it quickly became a popular climb among cycling fans. The climb has since been used frequently; in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

it was the finish of Stage 10 and won by then race leader

Vincenzo Nibali ), The Nibbler , birth_date = , birth_place = Messina, Sicily, Italy , height = , weight = , currentteam = , discipline = Road , role = Rider , ridertype = Climber , proyears1 = 2005 , proteam1 = , proyears2 = 2006–2012 , protea ...

; in 2017 it was the finish of Stage 5 of the Tour, with Fabio Aru winning by 16 seconds from Dan Martin (cyclist), Dan Martin, and

taking the yellow jersey. It featured again in 2019, won by Dylan Teuns. It was the penultimate stage finish in a mountain time-trial in stage 20 of the 2020 Tour de France, which was won by Tadej Pogačar, who also took the yellow jersey and the polka-dot jersey.

Le Tour de France Femmes

La Planche des Belles Filles featured in the premiere event of 2022_Tour_de_France_Femmes, Le Tour de France Femmes in 2022 as the finish of the final stage (stage 8) on July 31.

References

External links

Official website {{in lang, fr Cycling profile, map, photos of climb

Profile of climb
Ski stations in France Skiing in the Vosges Tourist attractions in Haute-Saône Tourist attractions in the Territoire de Belfort Sports venues in Haute-Saône Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia