You know those multidirectional signs you see at the North Cape or in Rovaniemi, the ones indicating distances to Rome, Buenos Aires and so on? Well, this time, here in Les Carroz and throughout Haute-Savoie, we're talking about trajectories that converge, already now with a time trial of the Tour de l'Avenir and through the start of Tuesday's stage towards the Iseran, not to mention the scenes of jubilation (the "folie") witnessed at Les Gets during the mountain bike World Cup.

In short, if it wasn't clear, the Haute-Savoie department is dynamically counting down to the 2027 world championship event, a Super Worlds featuring 15,000 participating athletes and an estimated two million spectators (a massive figure that our Trentino region is watching with confidence), 16 disciplines and 20 competition venues. In other words, a territory that traditionally bets on two wheels, open indeed to the noisy hustle and bustle of this or that cycling specialty with an exotic name (freestyle at Cluses), which may make purists turn their noses up, though they will certainly be satisfied by a dive into tradition linked to the figure of Bernard Hinault.

Yes, because Le Blaireau, far more than a simple ambassador of the Tour de l'Avenir, won the legendary road cycling world championship at Sallanches in 1980, one of the jewels of the Breton's career, winner of 5 Tours de France. From the hotel in Magland, just ten kilometers from the world championship circuit that gave him an epic victory by a margin of 1'01" over Baronchelli, Hinault will also set the clock for what will happen with the road race on September 5th of next year.

It will be the finale of a packed program, suited to every taste, starting from August 24th in this territory that has made cycling vocation its own established asset. The great Bernard has even had a street named after him at the top of the strategic Côte de Domancy, while returning to Magland, it's a place particularly dear to Paul Seixas: his grandparents live here, in fact, the home of the young talent who makes French cycling enthusiasts dream, a vacation house from which—it seems like yesterday—the now 19-year-old champion of Decathlon CGM would venture out, testing the Côte de Luth on his own, a small climb visible from the Plateau de Solaison, where the Tour de France arrived for the first time last July. It's a continuous reference to cycling events, as will also be demonstrated by the Châtillon-sur-Cluses—Col de l'Iseran, comprising in its 149 kilometers the Col de Saisies and the challenging Cormet de Roselend. In Val d'Isère—news today from Le Dauphiné—they're aiming to bring the Tour to the fateful 2,759 meters of this HC climb already capable of writing memorable pages of the Grande Boucle. Now, it's the Tour des Jeunes' turn.