We enter the Jura for an exhilarating day of mountain climbing. Along the way, we rode through the Région des Lacs du Jura français.
The three lakes that we came closest to this afternoon are the Lac de Chalain, largest of the Jura lakes, and the Lacs de Chambly and du Val. All three of these lakes sit in glacial valleys carved out of the limestone bedrock. They are all surrounded by fairly sharp walls leading up to the plateau on which the other lakes sit. The peloton rode along this plateaus as they passed Chambly and Val.
Lac du Val is the first lake in the picture, Lac de Chambly is further behind. We’re looking northwest.
The shores of the Lac de Chalain have been inhabited for thousands of years, and the remains of a Bronze Age settlement can be found preserved in the muddy bottom of the lake. This village, built on stilts over the lake, is one of 111 pile dwellings around the Alps which form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We barely had time to admire the landscape as the gigantic breakaway drove towards Station des Rousses. A very solid performance from Serge Pauwels today (as I predicted!), but the young Albigensian Lilian Calmejane pulled off an impressive win.
