The Tour de France gets a new climb, the Col du Haag. A dilapidated forest road has been repurposed into a cycle path and now awaits Tadej Pogačar and company as the final climb on Stage 14. What’s it like on a quiet day?
The Route
The climb starts in the town of Saint-Amarin in the Haut-Rhin department of eastern France. It is 11.1km long with an average slope of 7.3%. The pass sits 1.3km away from the Grand Ballon, the highest mountain in the Vosges.
The Feel
The valley road is the Nationale 66 and it’s busy, although it never felt hectic. There are side roads if you want a quieter ride but linking these up is something locals know better than mapping software. Similarly there are cycle paths but they’re often disjointed, hop onto a side-route and you risk being pointed perpendicularly back onto the N66 moments later.
Starting in Saint-Amarin it’s gentle for half a kilometre to the church but “Discover the Tour’s route” is stencilled in yellow on the tarmac, a clue to what’s coming. Soon the slope kicks up to 11-12% as you pass houses where parked cars sit with wooden chocks under the wheels. Don’t be tempted to clear the first this ramp with a burst on the pedals because it only eases briefly and then you face a kilometre of over 10%.
Once you get to the woodland you can shift up a couple of gears. Follow the first hairpin round and ignore the turning for Meerbaechel. From here you’re back in low gears for two kilometres at 10-12%.
It’s steep but pleasantly shaded. When you see the leafy canopy ending it’s a clue the slope will too. There’s a brief descent to eat and drink but not easy on as the road is bumpy here. You’ll pass a fountain on the right if you want water.
Leaving Geishouse is where the route gets novel. From here the road to the pass is on a dedicated pedestrian and cycle path. Look for the green signage and the turning should be obvious as it heads uphill.
This is strictly closed to vehicles, barring a few locals with a pass. Swerve the gate to find three lanes like an athletics track: left for cyclists coming down, middle for you climbing and right for pedestrians. It’s like this all the way for 5.5km to the top.
On a weekend morning in summer there were no hikers so you’re better off in the pedestrian lane on the right to leave space for those bombing down on a bike. The whole road cycle path is little more than four metres wide.
It’s a steep 9-12% for long sections. But without any abrupt changes and a smooth surface it rolls by well. Despite the Tour de France novelty this path isn’t new and the bitumen has faded grey and already beginning to suffer some gentle frost damage. You can notice these details when it’s 12% for a long while.
Tall pines provide horizontal cover to block views but not always the sun above. After 9km the slope eases long enough to get in the big chainring.
You can speed to the virage hibou (“owl bend”) but shift gears before the strigine carving as the hairpin pivots you into a 12% slope, you can imagine many chains being dropped here. It eases briefly and then the last ramp up begins.
When you spot the farm buildings ahead you’re nearing the top but the final sting is yet to come with a final kick to the top.
The Verdict
A peaceful climb, this is a commendable initiative to give cyclists a reserved route up to the Route des Crêtes. If they had just repaired the road it’d be a nice ride but the real win comes from creating a dedicated cycle and pedestrian route. You get to the Vosges almost all to yourself.
Only it’s not all bucolic forests. This is probably the hardest climb in the Vosges in terms of slope and distance combined, the %2 x km formula. The only negative is the lack of views on the way up but you’ll get plenty from the top.
Advice
It’s better to climb than descend. This is a cycle path and it’s not wide, you can’t carve a hairpin bend and if you come around a corner to find two cyclists side-by-side on their way up, you only have a small space to pass. It’s doable but it just works better going up.
It is steep with long sections at 10-12%. Go equipped with gearing to suit.
It’s reminiscent of the Col de la Loze as a cycle path in the mountains. Only if it has steep moments it’s way more regular and predictable, you won’t be shifting gears and standing on the pedals from one minute to the next.
The farm at the top serves local food. If you want to stop anywhere for a bite or drink, try this place. The better the inn does from cyclists, the more it justifies the cycle path investment and future resurfacing. There’s fleischschnacka and Munster cheese… and blueberry tart.
Ride more
Get to the top and you’re on the Route des Crêtes. You can turn right to complete the Col du Grand Ballon, only only about a kilometre away and about 100m more of climbing. It offers even better views, although with the vibe of a busy car park. Go left and you soon reach the Markstein ski area with several junctions giving you plenty of Vosgian variety.
The Vosges are great. This year’s Tour stage can give you ideas: start in Saint-Amarin to climb the Col du Haag, then go left to the Markstein and follow the Tour route via Kruth to Bussang and then do the Ballon d’Alsace and the Col de Hundsrucken to reach Saint-Amarin again after 110km. This route has a mix of major roads and minor ones.
The Alps are near enough to see on a good day, a massive draw with boss-level ascents and breathtaking scenery. Only the Vosges complement the Alps well, a place to try longer climbs and descents if you’re new to riding in mountains but all on a confidence-boosting scale; and if you’ve had your fill of the high mountains there’s plenty of charm too and the ability to construct routes with plenty of climbs and descents in a day instead of just a handful.
Haag History
A haag is a old German word meaning an enclosed or fenced area and there has been a farm here for centuries.
The Tour de France has done the Col du Haag many times but don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it. It’s because the Tour has ridden along the Route des Crêtes, the touristy road than runs roughly east-west along the ridge line. The pass sits near the Grand Ballon and isn’t remarkable when ridden in this direction, just as you may not have heard of the nearby Col du Moorfeld or the Col d’Amic either.
For visiting cyclists, walkers and motorbikers the farm at the Haag has been a stopping point for snacks and a view. It belongs to the village of Geishouse below and there had long been a path up. In 1960 this trail was tarmacked and but gradually fell into ruin. It ended up the preserve of local hunters in 4x4s, motorcyclists with adventure bikes, and gravel bikers.
The mayor of Geishouse wanted to repair it but at €400,000 the cost was exorbitant for the locals. So he hit on the idea of making others pay. In another story of France’s layercake local government, he pitched a cycle path tourist attraction. In came funding from central government, the region, the départment and several nearby towns totalling €600,000.
Some locals objected saying the road would be closed to them at the expense of visiting cyclists, it’d be a long detour to get to the farm. The solution was gates where some locals get pass to operate them so if you spot a car it’s probably legit. The road was fully resurfaced in 2023.
When to visit?
People living within half a day’s travel – the area is popular with Dutch and Belgians – could spot a warm weekend in March or April to tackle some climbs but otherwise mid-May to October is ideal, it’s busy in July and August with holidaymakers.
Travel and access
Basel in Switzerland probably has the best travel connections with air, road and rail, it’s a hub sitting between France and Germany but it’d be too far to ride out from each day. In France Mulhouse and Colmar are the nearest cities but sit on the plains and require a ride.
For the Col du Haag towns in the Thur valley like Fellering, Saint-Amarin and Thann make for a good base and are served by rail.
More roads to ride at inrng.com/roads