Sub-prefecture: of Savoie (73)
Stage town: for the eighth time
19,900 inhabitants: (Albertvillois), 62,284 inhabitants for the Arlysère agglomeration community (39 communes)
Specialities: diots (sausages), polenta. Region of Beaufort cheese, Tome des Bauges, Savoy wines (white & red), vineyards in Albertville.
Personalities: Jean Moulin (sub-prefect of Albertville from 1925 to 1930), Michel Barnier (co-president of the 1992 Olympic Games, former prime minister and former European commissioner), Joseph Fontanet (former minister), Jean-Luc Crétier (alpine skiing, 1998 Olympic champion), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (biathlon, 2022 Olympic champion), Julia Pereira (snowboard, silver medallist at the 2018 Olympics), Paul Guiguet (cyclist), Marc Vinco (mountain biker), Joseph Carletti, Michel Bibollet, Patrick Pecchio (cyclists), Gilles Burgat (world trial motorbike champion), Julien Lizeroux (skiing), Jérémy Masson (short track), Alain Bar (engraver), Nicola Folmer (jazz musician), Rémi Deval (comic artist)
Sport: 40 sports associations (7,500 members). National centre for high-level skiing, Campus des métiers de la montagne. Facilities: Henry Dujol Olympic Park and Olympic Hall. Competitions: La Sapaudia (Albertville-Monaco charity cycle ride). White festival at the Olympic Hall in 2018.
Culture: the DOME, a major cultural centre built in 1991 for the cultural programming of the Olympic Games, hosts temporary exhibitions in the hall, has a media library and an arthouse cinema (2 screens). Théâtre de Maîstre, created in 1913 (436 seats). Salle de la Pierre du Roy, created in 1976 (capacity: 1,000 people)
Economy: administrative town (law courts, finance office, hospital centre, etc.). A future ZAC (concerted development zone) will complement the Olympic Park to accommodate businesses linked to sporting activities. Business sectors: cleaning, air conditioning, heating, plumbing, masonry, etc. Aciéries d'UGINE world leader in long stainless steel products Ugitech (1,500 employees).
Festivals: Le Grand Bivouac (travel festival) / Festival des jardins alpestres / Festival international de musiques militaires / Festival Tous Dehors / Festival Neige et Glace
Labels: Town of Art and History / Tourist Bike Town (awarded by the FFCT) / Town in bloom with 3 flowers / Committed to Agritourism and the "vignobles et découvertes" label / Prudent Town
Websites and social networks: www.albertville.fr / www.arlysere.fr / www.pays-alvertville.com / www.savoie.fr / www.savoie-mont-blanc.com / www.facebook.com/Albertville.fr / @Albertville_fr / https://www.instagram.com/ville_albertville/?hl=fr / facebook.com/savoiemontblanc / @SavoieMontBlanc
Albertville and cycling
For a long time, Tour de France riders were content to pass through Albertville on their way to the Tarentaise or Beaufort valleys, but recently they have been making regular stops here, as this will be the peloton's sixth visit in less than ten years. The first two have seen French riders shine. In 2012, Pierre Rolland took advantage of the stage's dynamic format to win at La Toussuire-Les Sybelles. In 2016, Romain Bardet pulled off a coup on the approach to Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to win the stage and take second place overall. In 2018, it was at La Rosière that Geraint Thomas took the Yellow Jersey and never relinquished it. In 2019, Vincenzo Nibali avenged a failed Tour by winning a short stage to Val Thorens, 70km shorter due to bad weather. That day, Egan Bernal definitively consolidated his Yellow Jersey. The Olympic city has suited the Colombian, who won the Tour de l'Avenir in 2017 by winning the Albertville-Sainte-Foy stage. That same year, Albertville was on the route of the Critérium du Dauphiné and saw Danish rider Jakob Fuglsang win on the Plateau de Solaison. Finally, in 2022, Albertville hosted the start of the already classic stage to the Granon, where Jonas Vingegaard knocked out Tadej Pogacar to claim his first victory in the event.
Sights
Henry Dujol Olympic Park
Albertville was transformed by the Games. The Olympic Park and the cultural centre of the Dôme, the Henri Dujol Olympic Stadium, renamed after the former mayor of Albertville from 1971 to 1995, were built for the Games. In the centre, the 53-m Olympic mast (bronze-coloured) around which the opening and closing ceremonies took place in February 1992. Many will remember the dancers of choreographer Philippe Decouflé (1961) taking off from this mast during the opening show, hanging from elastic bands. Speed skating events were also held here (the oval has since been transformed into a football and athletics stadium). Nearbý, the Totem indicating the directions and distances to the other Olympic venues from Albertville. After the Games, the park waś converted into a sports ground (football, rugby, fitness trail, archery) and retained some of the Olympic equipment.
Next dooŕ: the Olympic Hall where figure skating events were held and the Short-Track (110- m long, 81-m wide, 25-m high, 8,600 m2 surface area, by architect Jacques Kalisz). Today it is an ice rink and a climbing wall (the largest in Europe). As for the 8-m cauldron, with a diameter of 4.7 m, designed by Philippe Starck, and lit by Michel Platini on 8 February 1992, it waś installed nearbý.
National centre for French ski teams
This was delivered by the town in spring 2016 to the French Ski Federation: it is a complete sports complex covering 3,260 m² on three levels, in which athletes train in optimal conditions (apparatus and acrobatics rooms, recovery and cryotherapy rooms, weight training, cardio-training, stretching, athletics track...)
Medieval town of Conflans
This is home to: restaurants and craft shops, as well as Maison Rouge (1397), a listed building and home to the Albertville Museum of Art and History and the Savoyard Heritage Museum dedicated to Baroque art, the Saracen Tower (11th century), the Baroque church of St Graat (1701) with its listed pulpit and altarpiece, the Manuel de Locatel castle and Château Rouge.
Church of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption in Conflans
Foundation: built in the 18th century.
Style: Baroque and neo-classical.
History: burnt down in 1632, the church was temporarily repaired and then rebuilt in 1701.
Characteristics: a masterpiece of Savoy baroque and neo-classical art, its unusual double bulbous bell tower can be seen from all over the Albertville valley.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1989.
Museum of Art and History or Maison Rouge
Foundation: built in the 14th century.
History: the first building to use red brick in the Florentine style. Conflans was the only village to use it (for around a quarter of a century), but traditional stone soon reappeared.
Current use: this house houses the Ethnographic and History Museum on the life of Savoyards in the past, and the Centre for Study and Research on Snow and Avalanches.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1904 and 1913.
To eat
Croziflette
Everyone knows tartiflette, which warms the armpits and the stomach in the cold Haute-Savoie winters, but its variant, croziflette, is also attracting new fans. As with tartiflette, it calls for Reblochon, ham or bacon, cream and onions, but the potatoes are replaced by crozets, plain or with buckwheat, the square pasta that is an integral part of Savoyard gastronomy. All au gratin and served piping hot!
