Pra-Loup has only been used twice in the Tour de France. It is the the climb that defeated Eddy Merckx and on the route of the Tour de France and Dauphiné for 2015. Is it enough to make anyone nervous?
Alps
Roads to Ride: The Colle delle Finestre
The Giro’s route for 2015 was announced earlier this week and one highlight is the Colle delle Finestre, the highest point of the 2015 Giro and unpaved too. What’s it like to ride?
Roads to Ride: The Chartreuse Trilogy
Not one but three climbs. Why a trilogy? Simply because if you climb the first you can keep going, riding an Alpine sine wave across the Chartreuse range to follow a legendary race route.
Legendary? Yes because this has decided the result of the Tour de France several times. Many have not heard of this and the Chartreuse Trilogy is falling of the radar. Proof that a road’s status is dependent on regular visits by the Tour?
How Are Climbs Categorised?
The Tour de France has completed three stages in the Vosges, visits the Jura range tomorrow before the Alps and then the Pyrennes. The race rates climbs with five labels, from 4th category for the easiest all the way to 1st category and then HC for hors catégorie, or “beyond categorisation”. A frequently asked question is how are these categories determined.
Thanks to Holimites
All sponsors get a note of thanks and travel and tour operator Holimites has been here for March. They offer travel and stays in the Dolomites, home of some of Italy’s best mountain passes.
Roads to Ride: Passo delle Erbe
The Dolomites are part of the Italian Alps and offer plenty of great cycling routes that are rich in race history. This month the site is sponsored by travel company Holimites and speaking to them about the best places to ride in the region I mentioned the usual suspects like the Passo Pordoi, Passo Giau and Selle Ronda but they came back with… the Passo delle Erbe.
This might not have the celebrity status of other mountain passes but it is probably the most scenic and with several routes to the top, there’s variety.
Roads to Ride: The Col du Galibier
The Tour de France likes its themes with anniversaries, war memorials and more in recent years. 2011 was the year of the Col du Galibier with the race visiting the mountain pass twice and each time with thrilling consequences. Even the Giro d’Italia has paid a visit.
A crucible for the sport but a vast open space and a climb that has everything, from ski resorts to wildlife.
Roads to Ride: Col de Palaquit
The Tour de France is first geography lesson, second a bicycle race. Before a pedal has been turned we check maps and look at elevation profiles to parse the route. Mountains, valleys, plains and coastlines matter.
But just as a teacher gives the same lesson to a different class every year, the Tour tends to repeat the same climbs over the years as the riders come and go. Only 2014 has a new climb, the Col de Palaquit. Almost one thousand metres in vertical gain and with double-digit gradients it looks hard on paper. What is it like to ride?
Roads to Ride: Colle del Nivolet
I bet you’ve never heard of the Colle del Nivolet. The Giro has not visited and soon after the pass the tarmac ends, a road to nowhere. So what’s this place got going for it? If the photo above by Flickr’s Muneaki isn’t enough it’s in the top-10 of Europe’s highest paved roads.
Amid the famous climbs of the Tour de France and Giro in this series, here is the opposite: a road without celebrity status but which is one of Europe’s best, almost road you must ride.
Roads to Ride: The Col du Lautaret
As part of a series to explore the famous roads of cycling, here is the Col du Lautaret in the French Alps. The idea with this series is to discover the road and its place in the world, whether in cycling’s folklore or to explore what it is like on a normal day without a race.
The 2014 Tour de France route was unveiled and Stage 14 looks to like the Queen Stage, it’s certainly got alpine aristocracy with the climbs of the Lautaret before the Izoard and the final climb to Risoul. The Lautaret is a long climb by itself but also one of two ways to reach the start of the mighty Col du Galibier. It’s a climb that’s perfect for the Tour de France but unpleasant for others. A road not to ride?