d’Ordino
Length: 10 km
Altitude: 1981 metres
Height gain: 691 metres
Average gradient: 6.9%
Maximum gradient: 7.8%
A really pleasant climb in the tiny country of Andorra, the Col d’Ordino meanders lazily up from the town of Ordino over a ridge in the Vall d’Andorra that leads to the Pic de Casamanya (2742 metres). There aren’t any really steep parts to this climb, and the gradient is fairly constant. Added to the valley views, this makes the Ordino a great climb for beginners.
The first Tour de France climber to get over the Col d’Ordino was Oliviero Rincon in 1993. Rincon was a great climber, who said his ability to accelerate uphill came from his riding a 20 kilogram bike to deliver 30 kilograms of newspapers every day in his mountainous home in Duitama, Colombia, when he was a child.
WHICH WAY? Ordino is eight kilometres northeast of Escaldes, which is a suburb of the Andorran capital, Andorra La Vella, on the CG4 and CG3 roads. The climb is signposted in Ordino and the road to the top is the CS240. If you carry on and descend the Ordino to the CG2 you can turn left onto that road and climb the Col d’Envalira.
Col de Pal
Length: 6 km
Altitude: 1870 metres
Height gain: 544 metres
Average gradient: 9%
Maximum gradient: 11%
Another short but tough climb to one of the ski resorts of the Vallnord in Andorra, Pal has only had one Tour de France visit when Olivier Rincon of Colombia won a stage there in 1993. What makes this climb extra interesting though is the road after the ski resort that goes up to 2300 metres via the Col de la Botella.
The climb starts in La Massana, which is already at 1326 metres and on the route that runs from Escaldes to Ordino. At first the road is straight as it climbs through quite an extensive built up area in the Arinsal valley, but at Erts the road bends to the left and the buildings fall away leaving you on your own to tackle the stretches of 11 percent up to Pal.
This is where the Tour stage ended, but the road continues upwards in a wide left and right sweep to the Col de la Botella. There is a short stretch of twelve percent just before the top of this climb. Next comes a short descent from the top of the pass then a really lonely bit up to 2300 metres, where the road abruptly changes into a track. This is the border between Andorra and Spain. This is mountain bike terrain; the track continues over the border and ends in a tiny hamlet called Tor, from which it is possible to descend a rough road into the Vall Ferrera.
WHICH WAY? La Massana is six kilometres north of Escaldes on the CG4. Continue on that road and turn left at Erts to Pal. For the Col de la Botella continue on this road. The CG4 ends at the Andorran–Spanish border.
Mur de la Peguere
Length: 9.4 km
Altitude: 1400 metres
Height gain: 744 metres
Average gradient: 5.3%
Maximum gradient: 18%
The Tours of Italy and Spain have included super-steep climbs on the routes of their races for many years, but in 2012 the Tour de France started to follow a trend that is really popular with cycling fans. Three very steep climbs were tried for the first time in the 2012 Tour route, including the Mur de la Peguere.
It’s a tiny road that starts at the top of another pass, the Col de Caougnous (944 metres), and the Caougnous is counted in the overall length of the Mur. Mur means wall, and the sliver of road that spears northwards from the Caougnous summit is a veritable wall with an average gradient of 12.2 percent for 3.4 kilometres, with two short but significant stretches of 18 percent climbing.
Sandy Casar of France led the Tour over this new climb in 2012.
WHICH WAY? The Col de Caougnous begins in Massat, 28 kilometres southeast of St Girons – it’s the D618. The Mur de la Peguere is a sharp left at the Caougnous summit. This links with the D17 road to Foix.
Col de Toses
Length: 21.8 km
Altitude: 1865 metres
Height gain: 710 metres
Average gradient: 3.3%
Maximum gradient: 8%
This climb starts just over the Spanish border in Urtx near to Puigcerda and is totally within Spain. It’s a very attractive climb with lots of twists, turns and gradient changes, but it is a main road so can be quite busy. The average gradient is not steep, but there are two stretches of eight percent going up and, infuriatingly, one stretch that descends.
The Col de Toses has only been visted by the Tour de France twice, once in 1957 when Jean Bourlès triumphed, and again in 1965 when the winner was a Spaniard called José Pérez-Francés.
Bourlès was a very talented French rider who won the sixteenth stage of the 1957 Tour de France, but was only a pro rider for three full years, despite legend having it that he was one of the best three bike riders that Brittany has ever produced. The thing was that Bourlès didn’t like travelling, and cycling was so popular in his home region that he could earn enough money just from racing there as a semi-pro rider.
The Col de Toses also has its own legend. Some academics claim that there is evidence of a prehistoric tribe of people living there that were much shorter than other people of the same era and had red hair.
WHICH WAY? Urtx is seven kilometres south of Puigcerda on the N152. Puigcerda is about 30 kilometres southeast of the top of the Col de Puymorens on the N20 and 65 kilometres west of Perpignan on the N116. Continue on the N152 to the top of the Col de Toses.
The Western Pyrenees run from the region around the town of Oloron-Ste-Marie, southeast to the start of the Col du Peyresourde just to the west of Bagnères de Luchon, which if not the geographic absolute middle of the whole range is certainly a convenient place to draw the line.
Like the rest of the range, the Western Pyrenees are far more unpredictable in their gradients and direction than the Alps. The roads, even the scenery, have a less engineered feel to them.
The Pyrenees are generally greener then the Alps. They are lower, they are further south so the tree line is higher – but the main reason for this verdancy is that they see more rain than the Alps. And that is certainly true of the Western Pyrenees, which get the full effect of frontal rain coming in off the Atlantic Ocean.
Oloron-Ste-Marie is ideal
