Classic Stages #4: Sisteron 🇲🇨

Rallye Monte Carlo gets already its second entry in the classic stages list with Sisteron. This stage is known for its typically icy section demanding tricky tyre choices but also features fast-flowing sections and hairpins.

Cover image by Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool ©

Rally: 🇲🇨 Monte-Carlo
Surface: Tarmac/Snow/Ice
Length range : 20-37 km
Typical length: 37 km
First appearance: 1979
Latest appearance: 2024
Aliases: Sisteron – Thoard, La Planas, Saint-Geniez – Thoard
Hairpins: ~0.33/1 km
Altitude: 516–1311 m

“Of course, it’s very nice to drive a stage like Sisteron”

“It’s really a top stage, and it was always really tough for the tire choice”
– Denis Giraudet

“It’s pretty clear for this stage we need something else than slick tyres, but we also need to see what happens: some of the snow can disappear partly.”
– Sebastien Ogier

Why is it so great?

Sisteron, or Sisteron – Thoard, as we know it usually, is a nice Monte stage. The first half is wide and mostly fast-flowing while the ending has narrower and more technical parts, but in overall it doesn’t have as many hairpins as Col de Turini.

However, the key thing about this stage is the 5 km section which is so much in the shade of the mountains and trees that it’s almost always snowy and icy, while the rest of the stage is often bone dry. Monte is all about changing conditions, but this drastic changes are not so common.

Due to the length of the stage, it’s usually beneficial to opt for slick tyres and just try to crawl and survive the icy section. After all, roughly 30 km of the stage can be dry and 6 km slippery.

To understand the effect of the snowy section, let’s calculate Thierry Neuville’s average speed on his stage winning run in 2016. He did 108 km/h (including start from zero) on the dry fast section before the snowy section, 65 km/h on the snowy section and 95 km/h on the dry ending with more tight corners.

The snowy section has caught out many big name drivers: for example Andreas Mikkelsen, Thierry Neuville, Kris Meeke and Ott Tänak. In addition, Sebastien Ogier had close calls in 2018 and 2022.

Sisteron was an essential part of the route from 1979 to 2002, after which it took a decade off to return for a few more appearances, namely the 2018 run in the opposite direction in the dark as the season opening stage. Since then it has been run in half length format with the title Saint Geniez – Thoard (or the opposite direction). However, in 2024 this half-long stage appeared completely dry, even on the icy section!