Big Day Out: Col du Tourmalet
If you have followed professional bike racing for any length of time, you’ll have seen the Col du Tourmalet. If you’ve been an ardent cycling fan since the days of Hinault or Mercx, then the Tourmalet will likely hold an almost mythical place in a large collection of climbs the pros ride that you, yes you, can also go and ride.
Try and get a tee-off time at Augusta. Try and book a game for you and your mates on Centre Court at Wimbledon. You get the idea, you’re probably never going to run out of the tunnel at the Bernabeau but you are, with a bit of planning, some training and a helmet and pair of shoes going to go and ride the most used climb in Grand Tour History.
We started our ride in Borderés-Louron, a very pretty village in the Louron valley. A short ride down through the slightly bigger, also very pretty (you can safely assume every village or town mentioned is very pretty) town of Arreau and you’re at the foot of the Col d’Aspin.
You will be very aware of where you are and which climb you’re on the whole time. Not because you remember it from the moto shot at last year’s tour (although there’s a good chance of that) but because there signs on every climb with all the information about what’s to come, as well as km by km reminders of how hard it’s been and how hard it’s going to be.
I love it. The signs with the climb profile, the markers along the road with the KMs left and the gradients coming up. It feels like you’re somewhere that cycling is truly celebrated and I absolutely love that.
The Col d’Aspin is, quite simply, amazing. It’s close to perfect. It’s hard but not in the usual Pyreneean way of being steep at the start and easier at the top, but it eases you in, allowing for some speed to be gathered before you hit the steeper slopes of the second half. Which sound tough, but they’re the ones with the incredible views so you stop noticing the gradients as much.
If you’re riding it full gas, it’s just long enough to hit it to the top without worrying about blowing up (don’t set off too quick though, especially on the early shallower slopes). Or if, like today you’re also tackling the Tourmalet, then relax and soak it all in.
The views from the top are lovely, ask a motorcyclist to take your picture, and then descend the fairly short section to Payoll for a coffee and a crepe.
Are you ready to climb the Tourmalet? Hopefully you are well versed on the history of the climb’s role in the Tour de France, so while you’re on your lightweight carbon bike you can be sparing a thought for Alphonse Steinès, one of the pioneers of Le Tour and the man who campaigned for the Pyrenees inclusion in the race. In a recon of the climb he crossed it by foot in the snow, and almost hypothermic sent this message to the organisers "Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly feasible"...
Don’t underestimate it, it is both long and steep and you’ll find the air thinning just as you need it the most.
The bottom section of the climb is very arable, very peaceful but not that remarkable. It starts to get a bit more serious a few km in when you climb through the densely wooded sections and feel like you’re now neither near the start, and certainly not near the end.
And then it opens out, and there’s a hotel perched like a knowing bird watching you struggle on top of the hill above. And tunnels for some unexplainable reason feel harder to ride through than the open air. But you’re higher up now and it feels tantalisingly close to the top. But it’s not.
Through the ski village of La Mongie where it really gets steep, you can distract yourself from the fact you’ve probably been riding uphill for over an hour by now by reading the names painted on the road from previous editions of Le Tour. And a few more corners, last switchback and you’re there. That’s it. You’ve ridden the Torumalet. And what a view. Both sides of the Col are stunning so make sure you’ve got a jacket if it’s cool which it very well could be and take plenty of photos.
It’s a cracking descent, and you can run back through the climb as you relive it on the way down, remembering the points you were really suffering and how all that pain has magically disappeared now.
Once down into the village you can refill your water at the tap, read the information signs and take a picture with the statue of Eugène Christophe before heading back up the very steady climb of the Aspin back to Payoll.
From here you’ve got a choice to climb back up and over the rest of the Aspin and enjoy the descent on the way down, but if you want a super quiet climb then head up and over the Horquette. It’s gorgeous, very different and you can say you’ve done a big ‘three Col day’ or “jours de trois cols”.
If you’d like more information about riding in the Pyrenees and taking on the mythical Col du Tourmalet then get in touch below…
I want to say a special thank you to Richie and the team from MSK65 Pyrenees for hosting me while I was over there. More to come from them….
