Stage 799 – Ablis to Les Molieres

The penultimate stage. The centre of Paris is a a little over twenty miles away at the end of stage 799 and despite throwing as much climbing at you as the previous two stages combined, the sheer relief and euphoria of being so close to the finish should get you through. This is a wibbly wobbly stage that constantly bends left, curves right or just changes direction altogether. But it’s heading north east and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

The rollout is straight, flat and north east for almost a mile then the D988 bends right/left/right at Gueherville before climbing to cross the main A11 L’Oceane autoroute. After that the road runs straight and flat to three miles then it starts shimmying about before descending into Saint Arnoult en Yvelines where it crosses the La Remande river on the approach to the town. At the Ecole Elementaire Camescasse primary school, the route leaves the D988 and makes a left turn onto the D29 Rue des Ecoles, heading north. The road climbs as it makes its way out of town, twisting and turning constantly before eventually making a right turn onto the D132 at six miles.

There’s a descent down to the La Rabette river close to its source then the gradient relents a little but still heads downhill to Les Moutiers where the road crosses the Ruisseau de la Claye not once but twice on the approach to the town. But then a curious thing happens: a quarter of a mile north of the ATW route, the Ruisseau de la Claye flows under the Rue de la Chapelle Saint Anne which is heading north. The river is flowing west (left) to east (right) under the bridge but when it emerges on the other side, the Ruisseau de la Claye has magically become the Ruisseau Sainte Anne. It’s curious because there’s no district boundary involved and the river carries on flowing east as the Ruisseau Sainte Anne: indeed it subsequently crosses under the ATW route at nine miles.

After leaving Les Moutiers, the D132 starts a very lumpy climb that crosses the L’Aulne river at the beginning of a looping right hander into Bullion, then the same road takes a sharp left on leaving the town. That takes the route into Bonnelles at twelve miles and after skirting along the top end of town, the route swaps the D132 for the D988: the route was on that road a while back!

Now heading north east, the D988 crosses the administrative border from Yvelines into Essonne then passes by Malassis at thirteen miles, and as the lumps keep coming, the first first false summit is at the junction of the D838 at fourteen miles. It’s a false summit because the road then descends into Limours where it crosses the Ruisseau de Predecelle ahead of a couple of right/left bends that kick off the next climb.

On the approach to Les Pavillons, the route hangs a left onto the D838 Rue de Versailles and that swings right into Les Molieres at seventeen miles. A right/right/left through the town eventually sends the road out east as the D40, and it’s on there, approaching Gometz la Ville, that the stage runs into the finish line at the junction of the Rue de Gometz and the Rue de la Vacheresse.

Distance: 20 miles / 32 kilometres

Ascent: 705 feet / 215 metres

RGT Magic Road: cULD8b1rXSLx

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