Orcières-Merlette, also known as Orcières Merlette 1850, is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

near to

Orcières Orcières () is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department The following is a list of the 162 communes of the Hautes-Alpes department of France. The commu ...

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; oc, Auts Aups; en, Upper Alps) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population of 141,220 ...

, in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

. It has been a

summit finish This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport. For ''parts of a bicycle'', see List of bicycle parts. 0–9 ; 27.5 Mountain bike: A mountain bike with wheels that are approximately in diameter and ...

for

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 ...

stages on multiple occasions, most notably in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, when

Luis Ocaña Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía (; 9 June 1945 – 19 May 1994) was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the 1973 Tour de France and the 1970 Vuelta a España. During the 1971 Tour de France he launched an amazing solo breakaway that put him ...

beat

Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (, ; born 17 June 1945), better known as Eddy Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track bicycle racer who is among the most successful riders in the history of competitive cycling. His victorie ...

by over eight minutes to take the yellow jersey as leader of the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

Location and resort details

Orcières-Merlette is situated in the

, around from the village of

, on the edge of the

Écrins National Park Écrins National Park (french: parc national des Écrins, ; oc, parc Nacional dels Escrinhs) is a French national park located in the southeastern part of France in the Dauphiné Alps south of Grenoble and north of Gap, shared between the dep ...

. It lies above the town of Gap. The highest point of the resort is at above sea level. Orcières-Merlette covers an area of . The resort has 30

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial l ...

s and 51 pistes, totalling over in length. Orcières-Merlette contains one of Europe's longest

zip line A zip-line, zip line, zip-wire, flying fox, or death slide is a pulley suspended on a cable, usually made of stainless steel, mounted on a slope. It is designed to enable cargo or a person propelled by gravity to travel from the top to the bott ...

s, with a length of from to Lac d'Orcières-Merlette.

History

Orcières-Merlette was built in the 1960s, and opened in 1962. Since the early 2000s, the resort has been owned by . Skiers who have used Orcières-Merlette as their home location include Valentin Giraud Moine and Alizée Baron. French

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sports ...

driver

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Ogier (born 17 December 1983) is a French rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC), who is teamed with the co-driver Julien Ingrassia. He has won the World Rally Drivers' Champions ...

has also worked as a ski instructor at Orcières-Merlette. In 2019, Orcières-Merlette hosted a "colour" skiing event, which involved being sprayed with coloured powders whilst skiing down the mountain. A 2020

Alpine Skiing Europa Cup The FIS Alpine Ski Europa Cup is a second level international alpine skiing circuit organized annually by the International Ski Federation (FIS) beginning with the 1971-1972 season. Although held in Europe, these races are also open to non-Euro ...

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

event scheduled to be held at Orcières-Merlette was cancelled due to heavy snowfall and lack of visibility.

Tour de France

Orcières-Merlette was first used as a

stage host in 1971 edition, when it was used for the finish of stage 11 and the start of stage 12, including the rest day in between the stages.

won stage 11, attacking from a group of leading contenders and soloing for the final . He also gained the yellow jersey as leader of the

with a finishing margin of 8:42 minutes over the former leader

. Merckx had won the previous year's race. Following the rest day, stage 12 of the 1971 Tour started with a descent from Orcières-Merlette, which Merckx attacked on with a small group and remained in the lead to the finish in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. Ocaña led the chasing

peloton In a road bicycle race, the peloton (from French, originally meaning 'platoon') is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close ( drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The reductio ...

(main field) to limit his loss to Merckx on the stage to two minutes. The leading group broke the record for the fastest average speed of a mass-start Tour de France stage at . The Tour returned to Orcières-Merlette the following year when it was again used across a rest day.

Lucien Van Impe Lucien Van Impe (; born 20 October 1946) is a Belgian cyclist, who competed professionally between 1969 and 1987. He excelled mainly as a climber in multiple-day races such as the Tour de France. He was the winner of the 1976 Tour de France, ...

took victory at Orcières-Merlette in the initial stage 11. The next time Orcières-Merlette was visited by the Tour was ten years later in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, when it was used for the finish of stage 15, won by

Pascal Simon Pascal Simon (born 27 September 1956) is a retired French road racing cyclist. A native of Mesnil St. Loup, he was a professional cyclist from 1979 to 1991. Pascal was the oldest of four brothers that all became professional cyclists: Régis, ...

, before hosting the start of the next stage. Orcières-Merlette featured in the 1989 Tour as the finish of stage 15's

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also track-b ...

, which was won by

Steven Rooks Steven Rooks (born 7 August 1960) is a former Dutch professional road racing cyclist known for his climbing ability. His professional career ran from 1982–1995. Career In the 1988 Tour de France, Rooks finished second and won a finish on ...

. The yellow jersey was taken by

Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist, entrepreneur, and anti-doping advocate. A two-time winner of the Road Race World Championship (1983 and 1989) and a three-time winner of the Tou ...

, in a Tour considered to be one of the greatest in the race's history. The stage also included an ascent of the

Col de Manse The Col de Manse () is a mountain pass located in the Massif des Écrins approximately north-east of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes department of France. The pass connects Gap with the high Champsaur valley and the ski resort of Orcières-Merlette. T ...

mountain pass, which stands between Gap and Orcières-Merlette. Orcières-Merlette was the summit finish of stage 4 of the 2020 Tour, the first time that the race had ascended the mountain in 31 years. The ascent was long, with an average gradient of 6.5%. The climb had a reasonably consistent gradient, and features many

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal hai ...

s. It was one of two summit finishes on the first week of the Tour, the other being

Mont Aigoual Mont Aigoual (; oc, Mont Augal, elevation 1567m / 5141 ft) is the highest point of the Gard '' department'', France. It is part of the Massif Central, and it is located within the Cévennes National Park. Its southern slopes are the sourc ...

. The stage was won by Slovenian

Primož Roglič Primož Roglič (; born 29 October 1989) is a Slovenian racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He started as a ski jumper and switched to cycling several years after an accident suffered at Planica. At the 2017 Tour de France, Roglič bec ...

in a sprint finish.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{official website, https://www.orcieres.com/ Ski areas and resorts in France Tourist attractions in Hautes-Alpes Sports venues in Hautes-Alpes Climbs in cycle racing in France