21 HC climbs the Tour should (re)visit

[Naz_KW]

Linkinito - Thank you so much for a fantastic thread. I live in the UK but am a regular visitor to France, having done many of the major cols in the Alps, Pyrenees, Vercors, Ventoux,etc. I've just returned from a family trip to Annecy where I managed to fit in the Etape du Tour route (the Semnoz certainly is quite a challenge!), plus the cols de la Forclaz, Marais, de l'Epine and Croix Fry.

I registered for this forum just to be able to post this. Each day I waited in anticipation for the new climb to be revealed, and am now looking forward to attempting a few of the climbs you have included, especially the Mont du Chat and Grand Colombier next time I am in the area. It's great to know that there are so many lesser known climbs to be tackled.

A perfect build up to the Tour! Chapeau!

 

[observer]

So did any of these make the new route?
I didn't think i spotted any.

 

[mb2612]

So did any of these make the new route?
I didn't think i spotted any.

Balloon got the descent in I think

 

[sensations]

Yeah Grand Ballon but they climb it from the other side. The HC side linkito refers to will be descended.

Other than that - no.

 

[Linkinito]

Yeah Grand Ballon but they climb it from the other side. The HC side linkito refers to will be descended.

Other than that - no.

The side that I rated HC was from Moosch (and eventually Saint-Amarin). They'll not descend on these sides, they'll descend towards Cernay through the Col Amic.
Anyway I could say, from the new additions, that the closest from HC standards are the Petit Ballon (9.3 km @ 8.1%), the col de Palaquit (3 km @ 9.3% - 2 km descent - 9.1 km @ 7.3% - however this climb was taken in 1988 but went even upwards to the col de Porte), and Risoul (12.7 km @ 6.9 %). They're a bit far to be HC but they are clearly, strong 1st category climbs.

I predict there will be 6 HC climbs during this Tour:
- Chamrousse (1730 m - stage 13 - MTF)
- Col d'Izoard (2360 m - stage 14)
- Port de Balès (1755 m - stage 16)
- Pla d'Adet (1680 m - stage 17 - MTF)
- Col du Tourmalet (2115 m - stage 18)
- Hautacam (1520 m - stage 18 - MTF)

There will be a huge load of 1st category climbs however.

 

[BigMac]

I was wondering, do you know if Pic du Midi could ever be climbed by the péloton? I know the roads are terrible but what about space for the logistics, team cars, etc etc..?

 

[Linkinito]

I was wondering, do you know if Pic du Midi could ever be climbed by the péloton? I know the roads are terrible but what about space for the logistics, team cars, etc etc..?

Basically the Pic du Midi is a longer version of the Tourmalet, with the last part unpaved (roughly 6 km). But it needs to be a scaled-down finish site with much less cars and buses. It would be a hell to set up. Also, as the Pic du Midi is in the heart of a national park, it would bring many environmental concerns. So we'll probably never see that in the Tour: way too hard to do it at this time.

 

[Red Rick]

Col du Jandri and Col de Rosael are just as hard as Pic Maido, and they're both on the French mainland. They both reach 3000m in altitude and they're very close to where the tour normally hosts their alpine stages. If we're to see climbs like that, these are the two candidates. We've got two problems, the road conditions, and Prudhomme

 

[sensations]

As said in the other thread - Mont Agel please.

 

[Linkinito]

 

[BigMac]

Amazing Linkinito, can't wait. Please do create another thread.

 

[Netserk]

OMG so awesome

Weird that I was reading in this thread earlier today, and then see it bumped.

BTW which climb is on the picture?

 

[Linkinito]

OMG so awesome

Weird that I was reading in this thread earlier today, and then see it bumped.

BTW which climb is on the picture?

I won't reveal it (but I'm pretty sure some people will guess it pretty quickly), because this climb is the first one of the new 21.

 

[Netserk]

I won't reveal it (but I'm pretty sure some people will guess it pretty quickly), because this climb is part of the new 21.

Are there so many HC climbs left (that haven't been raced the last 20 years and are more or less realistic) or does it include some hard cat 1?

Spandelles is only cat 1, but would otherwise be welcome on such a list. I guess Portet is there.

 

[Linkinito]

Are there so many HC climbs left (that haven't been raced the last 20 years and are more or less realistic) or does it include some hard cat 1?

I'm gonna say that a few climbs will be borderline HC/1C, and I slightly changed my rules: ultra small dead ends and very narrow roads are no longer thrown out. I'll add a "TDF feasibility" paragraph for each climb.

But in any way, this second season will be the last regarding HC climbs, because even if there's cool and very hard climbs to tackle in France, most of them are not long enough to be HC. So I can go up to 42, but definitely not to 63. Or if I had to, I'd just go up the roads of col du Jandri, col de Rosaël, pic du Midi, etc. I want nearly all of my climbs to have 100% tarmac, and if not, above 80 %. Parpaillon was the exception last year. However, in this new list, you can expect some short sections with no macadam.

Also, this list is gonna be less legend-centric than the past year (due to most climbs being very obscure), and will focus mostly on the climb itself and the surroundings, with more precision involved (probably not as much as the Spanish spin-off run by Libertine Seguros). Of course, this list won't surprise the die hard traceurs who had studied every single piece of road in the hexagon, but if I can make discover hard and HC-worthy roads with wonderful sceneries to climbers spending their vacation in France, and looking for other challenges than the usual Galibier, Tourmalet, Ventoux and l'Alpe d'Huez, this is a fine piece of meat they can find there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The people (OK, the person) demand(s) Errozate! Réfuge L'Abérouat! Col de Tentes! Mantet!

Also, Méribel-Mottaret should count, which is on the border between cat.1 & HC. Méribel-Les Allues was climbed in 1974, but there's another 350m altitude to climb after that!

I'm marking out like a child at the prospect of 21 more of these.

 

[valentius borealis]

Hmmm, Lachat?

 

[rghysens]

Collet d'Allevard?

 

[Netserk]

I'm gonna say that a few climbs will be borderline HC/1C, and I slightly changed my rules: ultra small dead ends and very narrow roads are no longer thrown out. I'll add a "TDF feasibility" paragraph for each climb.

But in any way, this second season will be the last regarding HC climbs, because even if there's cool and very hard climbs to tackle in France, most of them are not long enough to be HC. So I can go up to 42, but definitely not to 63. Or if I had to, I'd just go up the roads of col du Jandri, col de Rosaël, pic du Midi, etc. I want nearly all of my climbs to have 100% tarmac, and if not, above 80 %. Parpaillon was the exception last year. However, in this new list, you can expect some short sections with no macadam.

Also, this list is gonna be less legend-centric than the past year (due to most climbs being very obscure), and will focus mostly on the climb itself and the surroundings, with more precision involved (probably not as much as the Spanish spin-off run by Libertine Seguros). Of course, this list won't surprise the die hard traceurs who had studied every single piece of road in the hexagon, but if I can make discover hard and HC-worthy roads with wonderful sceneries to climbers spending their vacation in France, and looking for other challenges than the usual Galibier, Tourmalet, Ventoux and l'Alpe d'Huez, this is a fine piece of meat they can find there.

I have thought about it, and wouldn't it be possible to add climbs similar to Port de Balès pre-2006?

Not that I know of (m)any such climbs, but surely they're out there?

 

[Naz_KW]

Tnanks to your list last year I made sure I climbed the Col d'Arpettaz whilst on holiday in the Annecy area this week, on a ride that also took in the Col de la Forclaz (Montmin side) and the Col du Marais. The Arpettaz is an absolute gem and completely traffic free.

Can't wait to read this year's instalments! Chapeau Linkinito!