With the Tour de France finished, what other big sporting events can we look forward to this summer?

The Ashes Test Series- Cricket

Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham

...well we're still in the depths of an Ashes cricket test series against the Australians. As many of you know it's one test a piece and we're into the 2nd day of the third test with England seemingly having the upper hand after bowling Australia out for just 136. As I type they are on 133 for 3 wickets.

Athletics World Championships

Beijing's Bird Nest Stadium

The next major sporting event in the calendar is the Athletics World Championships in Beijing.
The championships take place from the 22nd-30th August with live coverage on the BBC. The most watched event (the men's 100m final) takes place on Sunday 23rd August and should be worth a watch.

Rugby World Cup

Twickenham- the home of English rugby

The tournament will be hosted in England from the 18th to 31st September with games to be hosted at various stadiums across England and Wales. The final game for the Web Ellis trophy is to be played at Twickenham on Saturday 31st October. Let's hope one of the home nations will feature!

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Summer Adventure in Tignes... Canyoning

An alternative way to explore our playground over the summer, canyoning is a different type of refreshing adrenaline rush available in the Alps! Explore mountain streams with a bit of abseiling, jumps, and natural water slide thrown in for good measure.
Obviously it’s advisable to choose a warm day for this activity and it’s not for the faint of heart!
You will make your way along rivers and rapids, using the river bed as a natural obstacle course. Not suitable for very young children, but anyone over the age of about 8 can take part.

Prices usually start at 60 euros and you will be accompanied by a fully qualified guide and provided with wetsuits, wet-shoes, harness and helmet. You can choose from short beginners’ routes or longer ones for the more adventurous.

So why not take the plunge and try canyoning this summer or next!

For more info got: http://www.tignes.net/en/annuaire/canyoning-220.html

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Le Tour hits the Maurienne Valley;

The Tour de France comes within to within a stone’s throw of us here in the Espace Killy.

Stage 19 on Friday 24^th July takes the riders from St Jean de Maurienne to La Toussuire - Les

Sybelles.

Along the way the riders encounter one of our featured cols: the Col de la Croix de Fer, which is one of 3 climbs on the stage. Here’s how the climb of the Col de la Croix de Fer looks on paper:

The race finishes at the mountain resort of La Toussuire,

It seems that Chris Froome has it wrapped up now. Fingers crossed though!...

Today in the Tour de France

Britain's Chris Froome maintained his grip on the Tour de France yellow jersey as Rafal Majka claimed stage 11. Team Sky's Froome finished the 188km route from Pau to Cauterets alongside most of his rivals and leads Tejay van Garderen by two minutes and 52 seconds

© Ville de Pau

The race kicked off from Pau, known as the gateway to the Pyrenees and the city of King Henry the 4th has hosted the race in on 66 occasions which puts it just behind Paris and Bordeaux of the most visited towns of the Tour.

© Ville de Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin

The race ended at Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin. The mountain resort also famous for skiing is developed around its thermal baths that attracted authors such as George Sand, Chateaubriand or Victor Hugoduring during the XIXth century . But cycling enthusiasts mainly remember that on the day of the only visit of the Tour in Cauterets, the event had been struck by one of the most terrible moments of its history. In 1995, after suffering a severe crash on a descent, Olympic Champion Fabio Casartelli passed away just after reaching the Col de Portet-d'Aspet.

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Cycle climb of the day... Moutiers to Val Thorens

Val Thorens is located in the Tarentaise Valley in the commune of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville of the Savoie département. It is the highest ski resort in Europe, at 2300 m altitude forming part of the 3 vallées linked ski area. The cycle up to Val Thorens is one of the longest and biggest climbs in France.

With several towns along the route – there is light but fast traffic on the first half of the route. After Saint-Martin it gets much quieter and the scenery ever more savage as you can see above.

Cycling Facts-
Average grade: 5.2 %
Length: 36 km
Height start: 479 m
Height top: 2340 m
Ascent: 1861 m

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Col of the day... Col de la Croix de Fer

The Col de la Croix de Fer is situated in Rhone-Alpes . Starting from Saint Jean de Maurienne, the Col de la Croix de Fer ascent is 30 km long. Over this distance, you climb 1522 heightmeters. The average percentage thus is 5.1 %.

The col de la Croix de Fer links the Maurienne en Savoie valley to those of Romanche en Isère. It's a very long and irregular col, the road winds through forest then open high meadows, the gradient changes from steep to relatively easy back to steep in the space of a few kilometres.
When you reach the crossroad with the Glandon, you can make a small detour of 1,5 km to reach the top of the Croix the Fer and to enjoy the view. Note that the climb is closed from the beginning of November to the beginning of May.

Cycling Facts:
Average grade: 5.1 %
Length: 30 km
Height start: 546 m
Height top: 2068 m
Ascent: 1522 m

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