The stage that caused many intakes of breath when it was unveiled last October will now cause even more. Just 65km and barely a metre of flat roads, there’s even a theatrical grid for the riders on the startline.
Pyrenees
Roads to Ride: The Col de Menté
As part of the series exploring roads used by the big races, here’s the Col de Menté in the French Pyrenees, a quiet climb with a tragic history.
Tour de France Polka Dot Jersey Contenders
This one’s hard to predict because of the points scale and a lottery touch, getting in the right breakaway can count for so much. Here’s a look at the competition for 2018 with the contenders and what’s new with the points scale.
Roads to Ride: Col de Peyresourde
Regularly used, rarely celebrated. The Col de Peyresourde is often a hyphen, linking different places during a stage of the Tour de France and that’s its charm, a crossing point with a useful halt at the top.
10 Roads to Ride
This blog’s road to rides section is enduringly popular and consequently there’s stream of email enquiries from readers wanting to know which ones are best, often people are planning a trip to the mountains or even a first visit to Europe and want to visit the roads featured. It’s always difficult to rank them, but for the fun of it here is a suggested top-10, some famous and some that ought to be.
2018 Tour de France Route
The 2018 Tour de France route has been presented and it’s full of novelty from gravel roads to unclimbed passes as well as a new time bonus system. Here’s a closer look at the roads ahead…
Book Review: Mountains
Mountains by Michael Blann
Mountain roads have a special place in cycling, venerated and the subject of secular pilgrimages every summer. A lot of this makes sense, a ride in the mountains brings great scenery and many want to test themselves on the same roads as the big races. This book covers many of these famous climbs with fine photos but doesn’t stray into the mythology so often associated with these climbs. Instead the expansive photos capture the road and the environment around it, including all the artificial features from ski lifts to hotels.
Roads to Race
There are more than 10,400 mountain passes in France according to the Club des 100 Cols, a touring group for French cyclists. Some are not accessible on a road bike but many are and provide options for the Tour de France which tends to stick to the same roads again and again. Here are ten alternatives, some novel and some forgotten…
How Are Climbs Categorised?
The Tour de France tackles the hors catégorie Col du Tourmalet today for the 81st time. The race rates climbs with five labels, from 4th category for the easiest to 1st category and then HC for hors catégorie, “beyond categorisation”. A frequently asked question is how are these categories determined. Here’s the answer…
Roads to Ride: Plateau de Beille
A new edition to the Tour de France in recent years, this Pyrenean this climb features again in July. It’s a tough challenge but a dead end and outside of the Tour de France, a peaceful road that seems be used by cyclists and few others.