Tour Climbs: The complete guide to every mountain stage on the Tour de France. Chris Sidwells

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Tour de France. First included in the 1910 event, the Col de Port has been climbed nine times by the Tour since 1947 alone.

      But the Col de Port has a connection with history that goes much further back. The caves in this part of the Ariège valley are some of the oldest inhabited places in the world, and there is a very interesting prehistoric park at the foot of the climb that tries to depict what life was like here in those far-off days.

      The climb links the towns of Tarascon-sur-Ariège and Massat over the Arize massif, and it has been climbed from both sides by the Tour. I’ve picked the Tarascon side because that is the way the race went when it was the first climb on the stage in 2007 from Foix to Loudenvielle. This was also the stage picked for the Etape du Tour that year, so a lot of cyclo-sportive riders will be familiar with the Col de Port.

      The Col de Port’s name is very strange, because port in French means the same as port in English, a harbour, and there are no harbours in the Pyrenees. In fact the name is tautological as port means pass in the Catalan-influenced Occitan dialect that used to be spoken in this part of France. So as col means pass in French, the Col de Port translates into English as the Pass Pass.

      The climb starts shortly after the roundabout where the D618 leaves the N20, just on the northwest edge of Tarascon-sur-Ariège. The start is quite easy as the first half of the climb meanders up the Saurat valley, gaining and loosing a little height as it goes, but never getting very steep.

      Its character changes at the first bend after quite a long straight run. For the next four kilometres the road rises at an average of eight percent, but in keeping with the Col de Port’s Pyrenean character constantly oscillates between seven and nine. The gradient eases towards the top, but the descent to Massat is equally unpredictable and irregular.

       WHICH WAY?

      Tarascon-sur-Ariège is ten kilometres south of Foix, which is 80 kilometres south of Toulouse on the A61, A66 and E9, and is considered one of the gateways to the Eastern Pyrenees. Leave Tarascon by going north to the N20–D618 junction and take the D816 over the Col de Port.

       The first Tour de France rider to climb the Col de Port was Octave Lapize in 1910. Lapize won the Tour that year.

       Rik Van Looy from Belgium was the best single-day racer of his generation. He is the only rider in history to have won every one of the races that cycling calls the Classics, but he wanted to win the Tour de France as well. In the mid-1960s he thought he could do it, even though he was just too heavily built for success in the really high mountains. He tried though, and was first over the Col de Port in 1965.

       Juan-Manuel Gárate was first to the top of the Col de Port in 2007.

      Near the top, looking east

      The Pic des Trois Seigneurs

      This small peak marks the start of the climb

      Scenery around the summit

      Port de Pailhères

      ‘THE TOUGH EDGE’

       3 STARS

      Length: 14.8 km

      Altitude: 2001 metres

      Height gain: 1207 metres

      Average gradient: 8%

      Maximum gradient: 12%

      WHAT TO EXPECT

       Uneven gradients. The Port de Pailhères is another climber’s climb. The hairpin bends it uses are more natural than constructed, so they are a bit unpredictable too, both in their tightness and gradients.

       Sunny weather. This part of the Pyrenees is protected from rain by the rest of the range, so the sun is southern-Europe strong. Use plenty of sun protection.

       Part shelter. The middle part of the climb skirts the northern edge of the Hares forest, so there is some shelter from the trees, especially in the afternoon.

       Side shoots. The Col du Pradel starts three-quarters of the way down the Pailhères descent towards Ax-les-Thermes. It’s not a Tour climb, but very quiet and attractive with lots of off-shoots on its own descent to explore.

      Right on the eastern edge of the Pyrenees, the Col de Pailhères is a tough but typical introduction to the rest of the range. It’s a relatively new climb to the Tour that starts in Usson-les-Bains and runs partly along the edge of the Hares forest, over to Ax-les-Thermes in anything but predictable steps.

      The first kilometre is quite easy, although route finding at this stage is quite complicated as a maze of roads split off and rejoin the road to the top. Soon the way up becomes much clearer and, unfortunately, the gradient gets much steeper. After an easy first one and half kilometres the next thirteen average eight percent, but they constantly switch from just under seven to ten, eleven and even twelve for a short stretch.

      The hardest bit of the climb comes at a set of lacets shortly before the final run at the summit, which at 6.4 percent for two kilometres is far easier than the rest of the climb. The summit touches on the border between the Midi-Pyrenées and Languedoc-Roussillon regions of France, although the whole of the climb is in the Ariège so is therefore in the Midi-Pyrenées.

      The views from the top over the Hares forest are a delight, and the descent to Ax-les-Thermes is even better. Watch out for the first hairpins. You arrive at them quickly because the descent is steep and straight just before them. There are signs warning you of their existence in good time, so do your braking in good time for them.

      The Port de Pailhères climb from Ax-les-Thermes isn’t quite as hard as from Usson-les-Bains, and that side hasn’t been climbed by the Tour de France yet. However, climbing from Ax-Les-Thermes might be more practical if you are combining this climb with the Plateaux de Beille or Bonascre, or with the Col de Chioula, which shares its

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