There is no gentle warm-up here: from Chamoson the route first drops into the Rhône valley, gathers speed near Martigny, then turns into the Val d’Entremont. Through Sembrancher, Orsières and Bourg-Saint-Pierre, easy riding turns into proper pass work. The Grand-Saint-Bernard climbs to just under 2,470 metres, past bare slopes, the pass lake and the hospice on the Swiss-Italian border. Then the road tips into Italy: Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses, Étroubles, tight valley villages, old stone walls — and finally Aosta.
