Col du Petit Saint Bernard from Montvalezan
Distance: 15.07 km
Elevation Gain: 664 m
Elevation Loss: 15 m
Difficulty:
372 (Moderate)
FIETS Index: 2.96 FIETS
Avg Grade: 4.47 %
Max cat climb: 1
Min elevation: 1530 m
Max elevation: 2193 m
Ride Category:
Climb
The Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard, at 2,188 m, is the only road between the Tarentaise valley in Savoie, France, and Italy’s Aosta Valley. The Romans built a road over it, begun on Caesar’s orders, to link Milan with Vienne. The Tour de France has crossed it only a few times, but once decisively: in 1949, on the stage from Briançon to Aosta, Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali went clear together on this climb. Bartali led over the top, and Coppi rode on alone to Aosta, where he took the yellow jersey and kept it to Paris.
This ride starts at Les Laix, in Montvalezan, and climbs the D1090 for 14.7 km at a steady 4.5%. Halfway up, the road passes La Rosière, the ski resort at 1,850 m, where a Tour stage finished in 2018: Geraint Thomas attacked in the last kilometre, won the stage and took the yellow jersey, which he kept to win the Tour. Above the resort the road leaves the trees and passes the hospice that Saint Bernard of Menthon founded in the 11th century to shelter pilgrims. Near the top stand the Colonne de Joux, thought to come from a Roman temple of Jupiter, and a stone circle about 72 m across. The ride ends just over the border, in Italy.
