Tour de France Alps 2023
For Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Michael MacKuen

The iconic Tour de France begins this year on July 1 and runs in 21 stages through July 23. The race demands different capabilities including speed, strength, stamina, and courage. Nowadays, the best individual racers are members of large professional teams whose strategies and teamwork are important for the overall result. At the end, prizes are awarded for cumulative performance to sprinters (green jersey), climbers (polka dot jersey), and most important, general classification or the overall winner (yellow jersey, maillot jaune). The overall winner is often decided in the final mountain stages of each year’s race, typically in the Pyrenees or Alps – each year’s race has a different course. In 2023, the decisive stages are likely to be those in the French Alps, stages 14, 15, and 17 (July 15, 16, and 19).

We shall spend an afternoon taking a look at the race course for these three stages. And then, to top it off, we shall head for the legendary L’Alpe d’Huez for a lovely dinner.


Courchevel for Stage 17 Finish

We depart from Annemasse [LFLT] and (loosely) follow the route of Stage 14. We land early at Habère Poche Perrignier [LF75] and then proceed through the valleys and over the passes to fly-over the Stage 14 finish at the ski resort Morzine [MORZ]. There is no airport there. We turn south down the valley to land at MontBlanc [LFHZ]. On the face of it, this stage will be a focus of the teams’ overall race strategies. It features the famous Col de Joux Plane [JOUX] HC the hill climb that “broke Lance Armstrong” in 2000. (The classification of the major climbs runs 1-4, high to low, and HC “hors catégorie” or beyond classification.) What makes this stage demanding is that the final climb is preceded by a Category 3 climb Col de Saxel [SAXEL] and then three Category 1 climbs. Col de Cou [COU], Col du Feu [FEU], and Col de la Ramaz [RAMAZ]. The multiple tests provide plenty of opportunities for racers to gain or lose a lot of time on this day.

For Stage 15, we depart LFHZ and limit our focus to the climb up the mountain toward the stage finish at Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc [BLANC]. This finale includes a Category 2 and then a Category 1 climb to reach the ski town of Bettex. We then descend off the mountain to land at Megève [LFHM].

Our third piece is Stage 17 from Megève to land at Méribel [LFKX] and then Courchevel [LFLJ]. Here we have two Category 1 climbs Col des Saisies [SAIS] and Cormet de Roselend [ROSE] as well as a Category 2 Côte de Longefoy [LONG]. The finale climbs from the valley floor to above Méribel village and then over the HC “hors catégorie” pass at Col de la Loze [LOZE] – rated as the hardest climb in France – high above the finish at Courchevel. The racers end by climbing the runway to the top of the airport. Only the strongest riders will be able to stand the pace for this stage where it is likely that the 2023 winner will effectively be crowned.

We end our day by flying south to the grass strip Saint Remy de Maurienne [LFKR] and then to our final destination at L’Alpe d’Huez [LFHU]. En route we shall pass over the racing classic Col de la Madeleine [MAD] and the nearly-as-difficult Col du Glandon [GLAN] before turning to see the imposing 21 switchbacks at the legendary L’Alpe d’Huez – all three HC [hors catègorie] climbs. After landing, we might enjoy the fine restaurant and the splendid views.

Documentation
The flightplan is available here.

Aircraft
Today’s flight is 191nm with a mix of lowland airports and mountain altiports. This is a mission for lightweight sport aircraft with speed of 120-130ktas. This might include the Pipistrel Virus, JMB VL3, CubCrafters Cub/NXCub, GotFriends Grravel and NXCub. Though faster than necessary, the Piper Arrow, Piaggio P.149 and Vans RV-14 should work well. (Commercial turbine aircraft, though plenty capable, are not a good fit for the event.) I’ll fly the Asobo Pipistrel Virus in the Red/Grey livery (“The Scarlet Pipistrel”) by Rockview101. Please fly what you like.

Additional Scenery
All airports are in the default simulator. For some character, I would recommend the following freeware sceneries. Thanks to the authors.

Perrignier [LF75]. alpesAventure
Sallanches MontBlanc [LFHZ]. alpesAventure
Saint Remy de Maurienne [LFKR]. Machinery
L'Alpe d’Huez [LFHU]. EnforcedLotus45

You can get a full package here. (85MB)

In addition to this specific scenery, you will almost certainly want:
Project Lifts – Chairlifts, Gondonlas and Cablecars. mamu82
Powerlines and Solar Farms. mamu82

There are also payware models of Meribel [LFKX] [Orbx, Very Good and inexpensive] and L’Alpe d’Huez [LFHU] [Bank Angle Studio, Good and inexpensive at the MS Marketplace].

A small warning. These French Alps seem especially prone to the shifting-tiles problem with the ground textures. This was not true the last several times that we flew in the area so it may be a temporary problem. And it may not affect you. However, it does seem to be something that is becoming more common nowadays.

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Wednesday, set the simulator at 2:00 pm local for July 5, 2023. We typically prefer real weather but may need to adjust.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and Time: Wednesday, July 5, 2023. 1800 UTC
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-SAT. COM2
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: United States East server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the Wednesday multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Please be kind enough to enter the title exactly as it stands in the title=”xxx” line of the aircraft.cfg file. Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!

See ya There.