12th Stage – Friday 13 July 2012 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne > Annonay Davézieux – 226 km

A paradise for grimpeurs, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne finds itself at the heart of the most presitgious cycling area: the Galibier, the Madeleine, the Glandon, the Croix-de-Fer, the Telegraphe...it is at the crossroads of all the mythical cols and the famous climbs, like that of La Toussuire. All cyclists, whether touring, casual or bikers are guaranteed to find happiness here. Gateway to the Sybelles, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne allows access to many winter resorts and to the discovery of the flora and fauna of the Vanoise National Park nearby. Historic capital of the valley, Saint-Jean also offers a rich heritage as a Pays d'Art et d'Histoire: gothic cathedral and cloisters, crypt where you can see roman art, costume museum, the Museum of Mont Corbier (liquour made from plants picked in the surrounding mountains), and of course, the Opinel Museum, the famous knife invented more than 120 years ago a few steps away from the town. Its cultural programme is as equally busy: spectacles, concerts, open air cinema and on Thursday 2nd August the traditional Saint-Jean Bread Festival.

At the heart of the green Ardeche, Annonay Davezieux has given birth to world recognised inventors and industrialists. Who would think that here, north of the Ardeche, you would find the cradle of air and space conquest or suspension bridges? On the 14th December 1782, the Mongolfier brothers, Joseph and Etienne, created the first aerostat in the garden of their paper mill in Vidalon; their great nephew Marc Seguin, talented engineer, followed in their footsteps in designing bridges and in developing trains whilst their descendants would prove themselves with aeroplane engines. Annonay is also a town with narrow lanes packed with history and of the memory of the statesman Boissy d'Anglas, father of the Constitution of the Year III. It still resounds with the noises of the tanneries and paper mills, of the well known Canson and other captains of industry. But the economic capital of the Ardeche, situated less than an hour from Lyon and Valence doesn't just live in the past. Full of savoir-faire the city has attracted new dynamic activites notably in the fields of mechanics, medicine and food processing.