The Tour de France and the demanding Col du Tourmalet

Col du Tourmalet, Southern French Pyrenees – Where the ‘King of the Mountains’ is decided! The Col Du Tourmalet is legendary as being one of the most difficult and hazardous climbs in the Tour De France.

Not all of the Cols in France are used in the Tour every year. The race committee rotate the hills in order to create more interest and variety. However, it is difficult to leave out such a climb as the Tourmalet and this mightily demanding climb has been used as part of the race more than any other Col in France.

This famous summit has been climbed by various pelotons on 70 different occasions. Such is its esteem and reputation that the Col du Tourmalet is sometimes is incorporated into the Spanish cycling tour race, the “Vuelta”.

This potent Pyrenees’ summit is a place of extreme beauty, and many enthusiastic riders go here simply to ride the Col at their own pace, to be able to say afterwards that they “did it”, climbing different famous mountain routes and imagining that they are ‘King of the mountains’, for a day at least!

The road on the Col du Tourmalet tops out just under 7000 ft and that is really pretty high for an actual road. If you park here on a certain day in July when the Tour de France make its way up this staggeringly steep mountain, you will do so in the company of thousands of others.

There is something special about the Tourmalet on race day and it is definitely worth putting up with the crowd for the atmosphere alone. To see and hear the different nationalities as they congregate together supporting star riders from their own countries is a truly atmospheric and memorable experience.

The Norwegians, for example, have their own enclave at a bend in the road as do the Dutch in a mass of orange and a cacophony of noise.

It takes 19 kilometres of hard riding to reach the top of the Col du Tourmalet and it can be a very decisive mountain regarding the overall outcome of the race. Much time can be gained by the climbers who are slightly built compared to the beefy sprinters. They say that the tour is won and lost in the mountains and the Col du Tourmalet is a lovely place to witness a great sporting event, close up and personal.