Why this dislike of Planche des Belles Filles ? Not disagreeing, I don't have an opinion, just curious as I am surprised ?
Its a 6km @8.5% climb with a super steep finishing ramp. Does this discourage aggressive racing? If so, why?
Planche des Belles Filles was introduced in 2012 and in the ten years since has been seen 14 times in pro races.
For context, Port de Balès only manages one more than that in 16 years, and over half of those are in the Route du Sud. Zoncolan has across the Giro and Giro Donne managed 9 uses in 24 years if you count the 1998 Giro Donne which didn't go quite to the top of the Sutrio side, 8 in 19 years if you don't. Angliru has 8 uses in 23 years, all in La Vuelta. The Giro has only ever been to Stelvio 11 times (it has been seen in the Giro Donne too, in 2010).
Hell, even just counting the Tour de France ascents only, Planche des Belles Filles has racked up as many appearances in 10 years as Bonette has in 60, more than La Plagne managed in 38, and as many as the Colle dell'Agnello has between the Tour and the Giro
combined in 28.
Even really classic climbs need a layoff once in a while to maintain their aura, and give a bit more variety to what happens. When everybody's ridden the climb a dozen times before in competition and everybody knows exactly where to pace themselves, you lose all sense of tactics and just get a watts showdown, which is no good if the only place to attack from (this is where regular Planche is better than Super-Planche) is in the last few hundred metres. Even iconic places like Ventoux and Stelvio have seen their mystique eroded somewhat by repeated use and no longer feel as special to see. PDBF is a middling cat.1/cat.2 borderline climb (I think regular Planche should be cat.2, I think climbs like Cordal are a reach at cat.1 even in the Vuelta, and that's approximately the same length and steeper) which doesn't have the history of other overused climbs like Alpe d'Huez or Lagos de Covadonga to fall back on, and has been seen so often lately that it's staler than week old baguette.