Col du Tourmalet (West side)
Distance: 23.05 km
Elevation Gain: 1377 m
Elevation Loss: 427 m
Difficulty:
1163 (Very Hard)
FIETS Index: 10.36 FIETS
Avg Grade: 7.52 %
Max cat climb: HC
Min elevation: 739 m
Max elevation: 2117 m
Ride Category:
Epic Climb
No mountain has been crossed by the Tour de France more often than the Col du Tourmalet, in the Pyrenees of southern France. The race has climbed it in most years since 1910, nearly always on the way to a finish somewhere else, which makes a finish at the top an occasion. In 2019 the stage to the summit gave France a one-two: Thibaut Pinot won, and Julian Alaphilippe, then in the yellow jersey, finished six seconds behind him.
This ride climbs the western side from Esterre, beside Luz-Saint-Sauveur, crosses the summit and descends to La Mongie. The 2019 stage came up this road from Luz. So did the Vuelta a España in 2023, when Jonas Vingegaard won at the top ahead of his Jumbo-Visma teammates Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic. Halfway up, the road passes through the spa village of Barèges. At the summit a stele honours Jacques Goddet, director of the Tour from 1936 to 1987. Since 2001 the first rider over the top has won the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, so the pass is worth racing for even when the stage finishes elsewhere. The descent ends at La Mongie, the pass’s other finish line. On 14 July 1970 Bernard Thévenet won his first Tour stage here, in his first Tour; he went on to win the race in 1975 and 1977.
