For a long stretch after Albertville, the route stays low and follows the grain of the valleys. First the Isère, then the Maurienne: Aiton, Aiguebelle, Épierre, La Chambre, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. This is not postcard Alps yet, but a proper approach day, with river, railway, rock walls and towns squeezed between road and slope. In Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne the easy kilometres end. The road climbs in wide bends to the Col du Télégraphe, past forest, stone and the first signs for the Galibier, before dropping into Valloire.
