Tour Climbs: The complete guide to every mountain stage on the Tour de France. Chris Sidwells

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      The Eastern Pyrenees run from Bagnères-de-Brigorre nearly to Perpignan on the Mediterranean coast of France. They can be subdivided further by their geology. Most of the Eastern Pyrenees are like the rest of the range and made from igneous rock. This doesn’t erode easily and is responsible for the rounder, older more permanent look of the Pyrenees when compared to the Alps. However, the Ariège Pyrenees, which run in an ever-widening triangle with an apex near Andorra, are limestone, so this is a land of deep gorges and light grey cliffs.

      But even the igneous mountains are different in character. The climbs south of the town of St Girons, like the Col de Menté or the Portet d’Aspet, are lower than those in the East and in Andorra. This means that they are generally covered in trees or pasture, whereas the far eastern climbs are topped with straggly grass or bare rock.

      The towns of Andorra La Vella or Font Romeu make good bases for the far eastern climbs, where you will see plenty of examples of the Occitan language that is heavily influenced by Catalan Spanish and was spoken in this region in times gone by. Best bases for the Ariège Pyrenees are Ax-les-Thermes or Tarascon-sur-Ariège and Foix.

      A number of the climbs that have been used by the Tour de France in this region are wholly in Spain, where there is another face of this region to be enjoyed. The Spanish climbs, especially the Collado del Canto and Port de la Bonaigua, are in lonely and quite sparsely populated areas, where you can ride for miles without seeing a soul.

      Arcalis

      ‘ANDORRA’S PRIDE’

       2 STARS

      Length: 18 km

      Altitude: 2225 metres

      Height gain: 943 metres

      Average gradient: 5.2%

      Maximum gradient: 10%

      WHAT TO EXPECT

       Wild wonders. Arcalis is remote. The mountains that surround it are at least 2500 metres high and some scrape 3000 metres. Few people live up here, and most visiting skiers are Andorrans or Spanish who drive up on day trips or for the weekend. Arcalis really is a wild mountain wonder.

       Link up. As well as the Col d’Ordino and Pal, try the climb to Arsinal. The Tour hasn’t been there but it’s really steep in places.

       Three countries. Arcalis is close to the French border. The Col de la Botella, which is a continuation of the Pal climb ends at the Spanish border. All three countries meet ten kilometres north of there at the Pic de Médécourbe (2914 metres).

      Arcalis is a ski resort with a difference. It’s publicly owned, quite remote and it doesn’t have a purpose-built ski village with the high rises and cuckoo clock wooden chalets you find in some resorts. Andorrans are justifiably proud of it.

      It is part of the Vallnord group of ski resorts that are divided into the Pal, Arsinal and Arcalis sectors, of which Arcalis is the most northerly. It has 24 kilometres of downhill and 12 kilometres of prepared ski pistes, and is very popular with ecologically switched on skiers. Nice touches in the resort include a permanent display of sculptures.

      The climb starts in Ordino, where the altitude is already 1200 metres. The beginning is easy enough, climbing the Valira del Nord watercourse that flows straight out of the snows of the French border mountains. After eight kilometres you arrive at the village of El Serrat, where there is a very steep descent followed by a short stretch of ten percent climbing. Then the road starts to twist and turn to find the easiest way up the steepening mountainside as you enter the Cercle d’Arcalis where the ski slopes are located.

      Keep going until the end of the road, even though the Tour stage finished just short of it. The road goes to the Port du Rat, which is an old crossing into France over which a track still passes.

      If you’ve got plenty of energy left, descend to Ordino and climb the Col d’Ordino. And if you return to Ordino once more you are only two kilometres from the start of another Tour de France climb, the one up to the ski resort of Pal.

      Andorra La Vella has plenty of hotels, as do the ski resorts, and with the famous climbs of the Port d’Envalira on hand, as well as the chance to explore some climbs that the Tour hasn’t visited yet, that makes the town an ideal place to stay on a visit to this tiny and remote country.

       WHICH WAY?

      Ordino is eight kilometres northeast of Andorra La Vella. Head for the suburb of Escaldes-Engordany and follow the CG4 north, then turn right on the CG3 to Ordino. Once there continue on this road to Arcalis.

       The Tour has only climbed Arcalis once, when it was the finish of a stage in 1997 and the German rider Jan Ullrich beat top mountain climber Richard Virenque to win it. Ullrich, who was born in 1973 and won his first bike race at nine years old, was sucked into the giant East German sports system and only able to be a pro rider after the fall of the Berlin wall. When he won at Arcalis he was riding only his second Tour de France, but he went on to win overall. The following year, though, Ullrich was beaten by Marco Pantani and after that he never got on terms with Lance Armstrong, even though some thought that Ullrich was physically more gifted than Armstrong.

      Road into Andorra from France

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