Côte de la Baraque

Tour de France 2025

Monday 14 July: Stage 10 Ennezat - Le Mont-DorePau - Pla D’Adet
By car: 0 km
By bike: 0 km

Tat: Bottle opener fridge magnet, tractor keyring, another pouch of Biofreeze.

Today’s stage is in Clermont Ferrand - the Tour has made a huge deviation to the centre of France, only to return back to the southwest on Thursday. Sat on the northern edge of the Massif Central it has a distinctive landscape formed by volcanoes, resulting in conical peaks, plateaus and deep valleys. There will be vicious repetitive climbing today with eight climbs, nearly all category 2. A combination of access and accommodation meant that I’ll be on the second, the Cat 2 Côte de la Baraque.

I’m staying in a Logis hotel. If you went back 30 or 40 years, a Logis was one of the places to stay in France. A guarantee of quality and French welcome. They were all independently owned and operated, with the ‘Logis’ marque ensuring standards. At the same time in the UK, the RAC and AA used to give star ratings for hotels. Time has moved on, but sadly many of these hotels haven’t. Logis is more of a franchise these days, but unlike modern franchises (the French love franchising), there’s no money to invest, so my hotel, once someone’s pride and joy, seems marooned in the 1990s. The proprietor appears to be coming up to retirement age, and I do wonder what the future holds for both them and their hotel. 

 Probably their future is the same as the couple of hotels down the road where the route went through - shuttered and closed. The hotel trade has changed beyond recognition. It’s either an Airbnb appartement or a chain hotel such as Ibis or B&B Hotel. Dependable but anonymous places you book online.




I ended up right on the finish line of the climb today. I got a great view of Lenny Martinez taking the race lead over the line. A line that curiously had only been drawn five minutes before. And it’s amazing to note in these days of instant communication and data warehouses, the finish is verified by a bloke on a motorbike filming on his phone and writing it down in his notebook.


Likely spot me tomorrow at : It’s a Rest Day - phew !

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Location: 63870 Orcines, France

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