Day 1 leaves Belfort past the citadel, red roofs and the last hint of the Vosges. The route rolls through Châtenois-les-Forges and Audincourt before slipping out of the Montbéliard basin. Roads narrow. Traffic fades. The hills start to bite. Beyond the first ramps, the Haut-Doubs opens up with pasture, dark forest and scattered farms. Near Fournet-Blancheroche the day drops into the Doubs gorge: water and rock below, La Chaux-de-Fonds waiting high above at around 1,000 metres. Not a warm-up. The door into the Jura.
