Cycling the Pyrenees border passes

Col de Banyuls, close to the mediterranean coast

The Pyrenees is the natural border between France and Spain. There are a lot of asphalted passes in the Pyrenees, some in the french side, some in the spanish side, but only some of them are exactly with the border at the top, having one side from France and one side from Spain.

Usually the french side is longer, steeper and colder, being on the north face. Worth to know this information when planning a cycling tour in the Pyrenees.

Let's have a quick list of all of them, starting from east to west, from the catalan Pyrenees to the Basque Pyrenees.

1. Coll de Banyuls (355 M) This is the most eastern proper mountain pass in the Pyrenees linking the coastal french Banyuls sur Mer with the little known village in Girona called Espolla. Very steep french side, longer, milder and nicer the catalan side.
2. Col de Pertus (290 mts). This is a historical pass, the lowest point to cross the Pyrenees. The main road is filled with cars and traffic, totally avoidable. Nevertheless in the Pirinexus route goes through this easy pass avoiding the road in a gravel path.
3. Costoja (830 mts) Little unknown pass in Girona province, even if it is a wide nice road. The starting point in Spain is the village called Tapis, and on the french side there is a village close to the top called Costoja, (Coustouge in french).
4. Coll de Manrella (637 m) Even smaller and less known pass than the previous Costoja. There is a monument dedicated to the people who exiliated to France through this tiny pass after the Civil war in Spain. Solitaire road, in fact there is about 1 km gravel path on the french side.
5. Coll d'Ares (1513 mts). Possibly the most known border pass in Girona province. Again, the french side is much more demanding. 32 km long from Arles sur Tech, or 14 km from Prats de Molló. On the way to Coll d'Ares you can collect other cols as Col de la Seille (1185 m) and Col de la Guille (1194). Interesting for the climbs collectors, type Club des cent Cols.



Monument at Portillon (spanish side)

6. Col de Portillon (1293 mts). As usual, the french side from Bagneres de Luchon is much steeper than the spanish one from Bossost. The spanish side has some milestones remembering the spanish winners in the Tour de France, and there is a monument dedicated to them at a viewpoint half climb.
7. Tunnel de Bielsa (1820 mts). This tunnel was opened in 1976 and is 3 km long. The tunnel connects the Lleida spanish province with St Lary Soulan and Fabian, on the french side, starting points of big climbs as Lac d'Aumar, St Lary Soulan or Pla d'Adet.
8. Puerto de Somport (1650 mts) This pass has a couple of remarkable characteristics: 1) It is a very old historical pass and there was a train line crossing Spain-France, the Canfranc train station is huge and now with no use, just the touristic visits 2) there is a tunnel to get through the mountain which we cyclists should avoid to reach to the top. 3) There is a very known ski station on the spanish side called Candanchú.
9. Portalet (1794 mts) Same as Somport, bot climbs are included in the "Quebrantahuesos", the most famous sportive (Granfondo) in all of Spain. The starting point of Portalet on the french side is the same as the almighty Aubisque, in a crossroad a little after Laruns.
10. Larrau (1573 mts) This climb was included in Tour de France 1996 for the first time. Such a discovery and such a climb especially, again, from the french side. Terribly steep.
11. Pierre St Martin (1760 mts) Pierre St Martin is the highest road in Basque Pyrenees. In fact there are 7 sides of this monster climb, just one from Nafarroa and other six in France. Included in Tour de France 2015 with big show and victory of Chris Froome. Click on link to learn more about the seven sides. 

    

    Col d'Izpegi, beautiful

12. Izpegi (690 mts). Simply beautiful. An amazing pass specially the side from Saint Etienne de Baigorry in France. This pass is often included in the Transpyrenees trips, and also makes part of the famous "Route des Cols" in the Pyrenees.
13. Ibardin (316 mts) This little climb has been included in Itzulia (Vuelta al Pais Vasco) several years ago. 
14. Lizuniaga (219 m) Little pass from Bera de Bidasoa with a Hotel on top.

 Now there is no police control on every border pass, but there was a time when it was, not so long ago...

Luchon-Bayonne the most classic stage in the Pyrenees

Luchon Bayonne, this is a Tour de France stage, come on.

Luchon-Bayonne is one of the classical stages in Tour de France history.

326 km including Peyresourde, Aspin, Tourmalet and Aubisque. Also the small Osquich closer to the end. This is real cycling, this is cycling from the old times. This stage was first included in the Tour de France in 1910. Can you imagine the bikes and the roads in 1910? They were HEROES.

The first winner was Octave Lapize in 1910. When he arrived to the finish he said the famous sentence to organizers “Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!", “You are murderers!”.

These are the Tours in which this stage was included (either Luchon-Bayonne, either Bayonne Luchon). Opposite direction (west to east) is even a more demanding stage, as the climbs are closer to the end of the stage. Here is the list of the Tours and the stage winners:

1910 Luchon-Bayonne 326 km Octave Lapize
1911 Luchon-Bayonne 326 km Maurice Brocco
1912 Luchon-Bayonne 326 km Louis Mottiat
1913 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Philippe Thijs
1914 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Firmin Lambot
 (World War 1)
1919 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Honoré Barthelemy
1920 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Firmin Lambot
1921 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Hector Heusghem
1922 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Jean Alavoine
1923 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Jean Alavoine
1924 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Ottavio Bottecchia
1925 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Adeline Benoit
1926 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Lucien Buysse
1927 Bayonne-Luchon 326 km Nicolas Frantz
1929 Bayonne-Luchon 363 km Salvador Cardona

In the old times the Tour de France (or La Grand Boucle-the big loop) was really a route around France following the pentagone shape of France. The route was very similar for many years then some stages were always the same: Brest-Les Sables d'Olonne 412 km, Les Sables d'Olonne-Bayonne 482 km, Bayonne-Luchon 326 km , Luchon-Perpignan 323 km.

There is a Granfondo organized by the Federation Françoise de Cycloturisme, that follows exactly this stage, from Bayonne to Luchon. There are 2 choices: doing in just one stage the 326 km, and the second option is doing it in 2 stages. Next 2020 the dates are June 20th and 21st.

In our Transpyrenees trip we climb all these famous mountains in different stages: Stage 1 Hondarribia-St Jean de Pied de Port, Stage 2 St Jean de Pied de Port-Bielle (including Osquich), Stage 3 Bielle-Luz St Sauveur (including Aubisque), Stage 4 Luz St Sauveur-Luchon (including Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde). Join us!!

Col d'Aubisque

Col de Peyresourde

Col d'Osquich

Le Tourmalet, le roi

Port Ainé, stage ending in Volta a Catalunya 2020

Elevation profile for Port Ainé

It has been unveiled the route of Volta a Catalunya professional cycling race for 2020.

It is a very special edition as it is the 100th edition of the oldest cycling race in Spain.
3/23 Calella-Calella
3/24 TT Banyoles (Girona)
3/25 Canal Olimpic-Vallter 2000
3/26 Ripoll-Port Ainé
3/27 La Pobla de Segur-Manresa
3/28 Tarragona-Mataró
3/29 Barcelona-Barcelona

There will be 2 mountain stage endings. First one will be in Vallter 2000 (a classic finish, included several times in Volta a Catalunya route), and the second one is at Port Ainé.

Port Ainé has been included three times in the route of Volta a Catalunya. But only twice the race arrived to the top of the climb... How can that be? In 2012 the route included the climbs to Port del Cantó and Port Ainé as stage ending. Nevertheless, the weather was extremely cold with snow vat the mountains and the climb to Port Ainé was cancelled (Stage winner Brajkovič described the stage and its conditions as the "hardest day of his life"). See details here.

The second time that the Volta arrived to Port Ainé was in 2016 edition, and the winner was Thomas de Gendt.See whole stage video here:

 

And the third time was in 2013 edition with Dan Martin winning at the top of the climb.

The climb itself is a long climb in the Pyrenees, and the bottom is located very close to a village called Rialp. The elevation profile showed in the article is a little shorter than it is nowadays, as the road gets to 2000 mts.

A true monster climb with almost 20 km of climbing, with over 6% average gradient!
Here we have the Strava segment for the climb:

Transpyrenees, such an amazing trip!

Tourmalet, the highlight of any trip!

This is one of the most classic trips in cycling world.
From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea in 11 stages along the main climbs all over the Pyrenees.
This is a sample tour, we can fully customize the tour according to your needs.

Day 1: Departure

Barcelona-Vic. About 100 km to get out of Barcelona taking the bike lane beside river Besos, and afterwards leading to Montseny area, where you will climb the nicest col in the area: Coll Formic. Solitaire road, great views, ideal for cycling. The first big mountain of the trip at 1145 mts.

Day 2

Vic-Puigcerdà. Today you will climb a precious col, not very known, although Volta a Catalunya pro race has been there several times. Coll de la Creueta, an espectacular mountain road with great views. Arrival to Puigcerdà, capital of Cerdanya area. We are already in the Pyrenees..

Day 3

Puigcerdà-Valencia d’Aneu. Long stage, about 130 km, including Coll de Cantó, a tough climb, but once at the top, the main difficulties are done. Once in the valley you will cross Sort town (translation: “Luck”). Maybe it is worth stopping to buy some lottery?

Day 4

Valencia d’Aneu-Bagneres de Luchon. No warm up and already a big climb: Port de la Bonaigua, over 2000 mts, a big one! Once in the valley (Vall d’Aran) we will enter France via Col du Portillon, a short but steep climb. Arruving to Bagneres de Luchon, the strongest will climb to Superbagneres, a nlong and steep climb included several times in Tour de France.

Day 5 

Bagneres de Luchon-Campan, 123 km. Col de Peyresourde (including the famous crep restaurant at the top!) and Col d’Aspin are the difficulties of the trip. For die hard guys we include Port de Bales at the start of the stage. One of the toughest climbs all over the Pyrenees!

Day 6

Campan-Tourmalet-Aubisque-Bielle. 111 km including Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aubisque. Those are capital letters. This stage is worth the whole trip. Cycling history has been written on these roads!

Day 7

Bielle-Saint Jean de Pied de Port. The trip is not over! This stage is even harder than yesterday! After Col du Marie Blanque (optional), you will have to climb Pierre St Martin (from Arette), and then Chalet d’Iraty and Burdinkurutxeta, to get to St Jean du Pied de Port, end of the stage.

Bagargi, stunning views!

Day 8:

Saint Jean de Pied de Port-San Sebastian. The last stage includes still 3 climbs. The last one if the famous Jaizkibel, included every year in Clasica San Sebastián in August. Fantastic views from the top, and then just the final descent to San Sebastián!