La Planche des Belles Filles
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| La Planche des Belles Filles | |
|---|---|
The western side of the mountain, seen from Ronchamp
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| Location | Plancher-les-Mines, Haute-Saône |
| Nearest city | Belfort |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Top elevation | 1,148 m (3,766 ft) |
| Website | Website |
La Planche des Belles Filles (English: "Board of the beautiful girls") is a ski station in the Vosges Mountains, in France. It is located in the Haute-Saône département. Since 2012, the climb to the summit has been used during the Tour de France cycle race.
Etymology and legend
The name Belles Filles literally means "Beautiful Girls", but is actually derived from the local plant life. The mountain is attested from the 16th century as lieu peuplé de belles fahys, a "place inhabited with nice beech trees" in the local dialect. Belles fahys later became corrupted into Belles Files, though there remains a nearby village of Belfahy. Meanwhile, Planche, "board", is derived from the nearby small town of Plancher-les-Mines.
A folk etymology, in contrast, holds that the mountain took its name from the time of the Thirty Years' War. According to legend, young women from Plancher-les-Mines fled into the mountains to escape Swedish mercenaries as they feared being raped and massacred. Rather than surrender, they decided to commit suicide and jumped into a lake far below. One of the soldiers then took a board on which, with his dagger, he engraved an epitaph for the "beautiful girls".[1][2] A wooden statue, created by a local artist, is a reminder of the legend.[3]
Cycle racing
From Plancher-les-Mines the climb to the finish at 1,035 m (3,396 ft) is 5.9 km (3.7 mi) long, gaining 503 m (1,650 ft) and averages 8.5% with a maximum of 14%,[4] but with a short stretch from 22% to 28% near the finish.[5]
Tour de France
It was the finish of Stage 7 in the 2012 Tour de France, 199 km (124 mi) from Tomblaine on 7 July.[4] The stage was won by Chris Froome with his Team Sky team-mate Bradley Wiggins taking the race lead.[6]
Two years later it was the finish of Stage 10 in the 2014 Tour de France.[7][8]
| Year | Stage | Start of stage | Distance (km) | Category | Stage winner | Yellow jersey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 10 | Mulhouse | 199 | 1 |  Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) |
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) |
| 2012 | 7 | Tomblaine | 161.5 | 1 |  Chris Froome (GBR) |
Bradley Wiggins (GBR) |
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Planche des Belles Filles. |
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- Pages with reference errors
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Articles with French-language external links
- 2012 Tour de France
- Ski stations in France
- Climbs in cycle racing in France
- 2014 Tour de France places
- Skiing in the Vosges
- Visitor attractions in Haute-Saône
- Visitor attractions in the Territoire de Belfort
