stage victory at Guzet-Neige because the 1988 stage finished there too.
The climb starts in the town of Massat and runs more or less straight up the course of a stream for its first few kilometres. The gradient is anything but straightforward. For the whole climb there is hardly 500 metres where it is the same, although there is nothing really vicious about the Col d’Agnes. That is if you don’t count the short trick it plays on you by having a descent at 13 kilometres, whose lost metres you then have to make up.
The rest of the climb twists and turns to trace the contours of the easiest way up through the lush woodlands that cover most of the mountains in this part of the Pyrenees. The road from the Port de Lers that climbs from Vicdessos joins this route about four kilometres before the top of the climb.
The descents to Aulus-les-Bains is exciting as it’s just as serpentine as the latter part of the road you’ve climbed. For a really pretty circuit, turn right in Aulus and head down the D32 until Ercé, where a right turn will take you over the Col du Saraillé, which hasn’t been in the Tour de France yet, and back to Massat.
WHICH WAY? Massat is 25 kilometres southeast of St Girons on the D618. Turn right into the town centre and follow the D18 and D8 to the top of the climb. The right turn for the Col du Saraillé in Ecré is the D132, you then turn right again onto the D17 to cross that climb.
Port de le Bonaigua
Length: 23 km
Altitude: 2027 metres
Height gain: 1122 metres
Average gradient: 4.8%
Maximum gradient: 8%
This climb is wholly in Spain, which might prove a problem if you want to be a purist and climb it in the direction the Tour has always climbed it because you’ll have to climb it then descend, then turn around and ride back up again.
It’s been used twice in the Tour de France. Once in 1974 when a Spaniard, Domigo Perurena, was first to the top, and again in 1993 when Tony Rominger of Switzerland was the best. On both occasions the riders climbed from the village of Esterri d’Àneu.
You could choose Andorra as a base for doing the climb from this side, but it’s well over a 100 kilometre trek to the start. Or you could climb from the Spanish town of Vielha, which is only 16 kilometres from Bossost, where the Col de Portillon starts.
From Vielha the climb of the Port de Bonaigua is 23 kilometres long, gains 1102 metres in height, has an average gradient of 4.8 percent and some stretches of eight percent. So the climbs are very similar in terms of length and severity.
The Port de Bonaigua is well up in the contenders for the wittiest bit of graffiti painted on the road by a bike fan. Usually these are messages to the painter’s cycling hero, exhorting him to greater efforts or counselling against getting discouraged, but this one, picked out clearly by the TV helicopter in 1993, read, “Hello mum, what do you mean I never write?”
WHICH WAY? From Andorra take the NA145 south to Seo de Urgel, then the N260 southwest. Turn first right on the N260 to Sort, then right again on the C13 to Esterri d’Àneu. The road to the top of the climb is the C1412 From Bossost go southeast on the N230 to Vielha and turn left on the C26 for the top of the Bonaigua.
Collado del Canto
Length: 26.3 km
Altitude: 1725 metres
Height gain: 110 metres
Average gradient: 4.2%
Maximum gradient: 7%
Another climb that is totally on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, the Collado del Canto has had two appearances in the Tour, the first being in 1974 when a Spanish rider called Domingo Perurena was the first to conquer it.
The climb links the Spanish town of Seo de Urgel, which is just south of Andorra, with the Aneu valley, which is also in Spain. In turn, the Aneu leads to the Val d’Aran over the Port de la Bonaigua climb. The Collado de Canto has been used in stages that started in Seo de Urgel or Andorra and head to the Val d’Aran to cross into France and finish at Pla d’Adet, so on both occasions the riders attacked the Collado del Canto from the Seo de Urgel side.
The climb starts from Ardal. There are no steep gradients, very little traffic and the road winds its lonely way westwards in a series of well-constructed bends. The whole climb makes a very nice bike ride, and there are a couple of interesting little off-shoots to explore if you like.
The descent is shorter than the climb, and the last part is quite technical with some steeper gradients and a couple of tight hairpin bends. The descent ends in Sort and from there it is 36 kilometres to the start of the Port de la Bonaigua. That’s a really nice ride too.
WHICH WAY? Go south on the N260 out of Seo de Urgel and turn right onto the N260 for the climb.
Col de la Chioula
Length: 9.7 km
Altitude: 1431 metres
Height gain: 771 metres
Average gradient: 7.3%
Maximum gradient: 10.7%
A real Pyrenean toughie, the Col de la Chioula has been climbed four times since the Italian, Luciano Pezzi was the first Tour rider to scale it in 1955. It has also been climbed from both directions, but I’ve chosen the side from Ax-les-Thermes because it is especially tough, and it’s easier to link it with other climbs in the same area from that side.
The first 3.5 kilometres are up a series of lacets, but already the character of the climb will have made itself felt as an easy first kilometre changes to a gradient that switches between seven and nine percent every few hundred metres. If you are climbing the Port de Pailhères from Ax-les-Thermes this section of road is the same for both climbs.
The two routes part at Ascou, where a really tight left-hand hairpin sets you on your way to the top of the Chioula. The hairpin is the prelude to some stiff climbing, with a long section of concerted effort required to get you over the six kilometre crux of this climb ending in a stretch of nearly 11 percent.
From the top you can descend then climb the Col des Sept Frères and the Col de Pradel and return to Ax-Les-Thermes. Or you can continue after the Sept Frères towards Mazuby, Aunat and the D118. Turn right on the D118 to Usson les Bains and climb the Port de Pailhères before descending to Ax-les-Thermes.
WHICH WAY? Ax-les-Thermes is 36 kilometres southeast of Foix. Take the D613 north out of Ax-les-Thermes and turn left at Ascou to follow the D613 to the top of the Chioula. For the Sept Frères-Pradel circuit turn right at the top of the Sept Frères onto the D20 and right again onto the D107.
Col de la Core
Length: 17.5 km
Altitude: 1395 metres
Height
