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

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

the D522 and it is on your right just as you enter Les Cabannes on the N20. It is clearly signposted.

Marco Pantani was the first winner on Plateau de Beille in 1998. The Tour has been back three times since.

Lance Armstrong won twice here, the first time in 2002 and the second in 2004. The Plateau de Beille is a bit like Alpe d’Huez, another climb on which Armstrong excelled and that he liked a lot. There was something about its regularity that suited him. Of the 21 Tour de France stages the American won, eleven were in the mountains but only five were in the Pyrenees.

Spain’s Alberto Contador won here in 2007. It was his first Tour stage win and it set the seeds for his overall victory in the race at the age of 24, which is young for a Tour de France winner. Contador is in the same team as Armstrong was, which meant his victory was their eighth in nine years.

Halfway up the climb

Rear of the 2007 Tour field climb the Plateau © Luc Claessen

Plateau de Bonascre

‘RISING ABOVE THE THERMALS’

star 2 STARS

Length: 7.8 km

Altitude: 1380 metres

Height gain: 670 metres

Average gradient: 8.6%

Maximum gradient: 11.6%

WHAT TO EXPECT

Real climbing. The twists and turns, changes of gradient and steepness make the Plateau de Bonascre into what pro racers call a climber’s climb. Climbs that are more regular lend themselves to all-rounders, like the Plateau de Beille did for Lance Armstrong, but climbs like the Bonascre are for the lightly built climbing specialists, as its list of winners prove.

360 degree views. This climb doesn’t follow a valley, so for much of it the land drops away on either side, which gives you great views. At the top you don’t just see the usual mountains that circle a ski station, but get great views of the Ariège and Orlu valleys as well. The Orlu is well worth a visit; it’s really quiet and ends in a extensive mountain bike trail. If you are interested in wildlife there is also a wolf reserve up there.

This climbs starts in the busy resort of Ax-les-Thermes, a place that was established as a hospital in 1260 by St Louis to treat soldiers wounded in the Crusades. The hospital grew as more people tried the cures of the sulphurous thermal water that comes from deep beneath the town. It later fell from popularity and all that is left of the hospital today is the Bassin des Ladres, which is across the road from St Vincent’s church. It’s still nice to dangle your feet in the warm pool though.

Today Ax-les-Thermes is famous for skiing, and Plateau de Bonascre is one of the local areas in which this winter activity takes place. The resort on the Plateau is called Ax-3Domaines, which can be a bit confusing when you look at the Tour de France history books, because the Tour has included this climb three times, once calling it the Plateau de Bonascre and on the other two occasions referring to it as Ax-3Domaines. They are all the same climb.

Plateau de Bonascre starts just at the point where the road turns away from the Aiège river and after a relatively easy first two and a half kilometres the next three are the hardest of the climb as they fluctuate between just under ten percent and just over 11 percent. After that the gradient eases to five percent for one kilometre before getting steep, easing and steepening again to the top. The road is also full of twists and turns, which makes it hard to find a good climbing rhythm.

The Plateau is a wide open space bordered by a circle of mountains and dissected into an elongated strip of high country by the Savignac and Ariège valleys. It’s also a sporting paradise with tennis courts, jogging and walking routes, mountain bike tracks, and of course loads of ski pistes in winter.

For the road rider though, the finish of the climb is as far as you can go. However, the Tour climbs of the Col de Chioula and the Port de Pailhères both start in Ax-les-Thermes and climb the opposite side of the valley. So off you go and try them.

WHICH WAY?

Ax-les-Thermes is 36 kilometres southeast of Foix on the N20. The road to Plateau de Bonascre is the D820 and it is on your right just as you enter Ax-les-Thermes from the direction of Foix. The climb is signposted from the main road too. Ax-les-Thermes is 15 kilometres southeast of Les Cabannes, so this climb can be combined with the Plateau de Beille.

Plateau de Bonascre has hosted a stage finish in the Tour de France three times. The first was in 2001 when a Colombian rider, Felix Cardenas, won.

The Spaniard Carlos Sastre won here in 2003. Over the last few years Sastre has been a climbing specialist who has come close to winning the Tour. His ability in the mountains gets him into a good overall position, but his time trialling lets him down. Many think that a Tour de France with more mountains and less emphasis on time trials could see the Spaniard run out as overall winner.

When he crossed the line in 2003, Sastre stuck a baby’s dummy in his mouth, which was meant as a greeting to his newly born daughter. Victory celebrations in cycling often have references to what is going on in a racer’s life.

First bend of the climb

The Tour is over 100 years old

You’re on your way up

Col de Port

‘THE HISTORY CLIMB’

star 2 STARS

Length: 17 km

Altitude: 1250 metres

Height gain: 777 metres

Average gradient: 4.6%

Maximum gradient: 9%

WHAT TO EXPECT

Скачать книгу

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