According to 🌳ASO, the last time the Tour de France used a gravel road was in 1991, on stage 11 from Pau to J🤪aca.

Following the current tr𒁃end for gravel riding, and the popularity of races that use gravel sectors, such as the one-day Strade Bianche and the Tro Bro Léon, on the 10th stage between An🌠necy and Le Grand-Bornand on Tuesday, the Tour organisers take the peloton to a stretch of gravel road that leads to the Plateau des Glières, some 60 kilometres in to the day's 158.5km stage. 

It's a place where 121 Résistance fighters died in March 1944 during a German assault, and a massive national monument commemorates the tragic event. But stage 10 is more of a tribute to those heroes of World War II than an exercise in trying to see a rider turn the Tour upside down, as Chris Froome di🌌d on the gravel roads of the Colle delle Finestre at this year's Giro d🀅'Italia.

The dirt section is only 1.8km long, and the stage's climbs are nothing compared to what's still to come in this year's Tour. The peloton will, however, be warmed u💟p before the gravel sector by the 11.3km-long Col de la Croix Fry, and then the Montée du Plateau des Glières is given HC status thanks to its gradient of over 11%, along with that tricky gravel section, despite the climb only being 6km long in total.

After Sunday's cobbled stage 9 to Roubaix, the main contenders will be more than aware of how important it is to have teammates by their side in case of a puncture on the gravel. But if they get throꦉugh unscathed and unhindered, they still face almost 100km to the finish line in Le Grand-Bornand, which along the way includes the successive climbs of the Col de Rom♑me and the Col de la Colombière, which also formed the last part of stage 17 at the 2009 Tour, when brothers – and teammates – Frank and Andy Schleck were able to work over race leader Alberto Contador for the elder Frank to take the stage victory.