SAINT-JEAN-DE-MAURIENNE

• Once a stage town
• Population: 9,400
• Sub-prefecture of Savoie (73)

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne has notably seen the birth of expert slalom racers, like Jean-Noël Augert and Jean-Baptiste Grange, but the close proximity of the Croix-de-Fer, Télégraphe, Lautaret, Madeleine, Glandon, Iseran, Mont-Cenis and Galibier mountain passes have always made it a natural cycling ground. The start of a stage in 2006, the Savoyard city will this year have the honour of hosting a stage finish.

At the heart of the biggest cycling area available to climbers, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne has a veritable passion for cycling. Galibier, Télégraphe, Madeleine, Glandon, Croix-de-Fer, Iseran… it is at the crossroads of all these mythical passes and famous climbs, for the utmost delight of sports cyclists, touring cyclists, mountain bikers or simply spectators. Furthermore, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne boasts the rich heritage of a Town of Art and History: the cathedral and gothic cloisters, a crypt that was a cradle to Romanesque art, the suit museum, the Mont-Corbier museum (a liqueur made out of plants gathered from the surrounding mountains) and, of course, the Opinel museum, devoted to the now world famous knife invented more than a century ago a stone’s throw away from the town. Lastly, in a year that marks the 150th anniversary of the annexation of Savoy by France, in 2010 Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne will be organising many events in addition to the traditional Saint-Jean Bread Festival that takes place on the 5th of August.