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

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      The Port d’Envalira isn’t a particularly hard climb, although it’s long. The road up it can get very busy with traffic, but it deserves its ranking as a major climb because it was where the first five-time winner of the Tour de France Jacques Anquetil nearly lost one of his Tours. The Frenchman was really in trouble on the Envalira, and had to dig deep into his store of courage to save the day.

      The Tour de France has climbed the Port d’Envalira seven times from both the Andorran and the French sides. The first time was in 1964, when Spaniard Julio Jiménez was first to the top. I have picked the Andorran side because it was where the Anquetil incident happened and because the French side isn’t very attractive.

      One things that detracts from the French side is the Pas de la Casa, a ski resort that looks like a moon base and doubles as a shopping complex. It is just over the Andorran border from France, but is on the French side if the climb. Bargain hunters flock up here to buy duty-free items, and on Saturdays in particular there is a procession of cars driving up the French side of the Envalira.

      The good thing about the Pas de la Casa is that it leaves the climb from Andorra la Vella, which is the capital of Andorra, less busy than it would otherwise be, because people stop at the Pas de la Casa to buy their bargains. The climb starts in Andorra la Vella and at first it is very gentle. It starts to bite at the village of Canillo, and a few kilometres after a place called Soldeu it gets quite steep as you climb a wonderful series of lacets up to the summit.

      The top part, where the lacets are, has much less traffic on it nowadays due to the opening in 2002 of the Envalira tunnel, which at nearly three kilometres in length and an altitude of 2000 metres was quite a feat to construct.

      The Ariège river, which gives its name to a whole department of France, is formed just over the French side of the Envalira summit. A trickle in summer, this stream has carved out a remote valley that has long been a refuge for wildlife and for people. It’s an Ariège boast that the local population have always been free thinkers who are a long way from central government.

       WHICH WAY?

      Andorra sits at the bottom of the Andorran side of the Port d’Envalira on the CG2 road. The city is 47 kilometres southwest of Ax-les-Thermes on the N20, after turning right onto the N22 at the entrance to the Puymorens tunnel. This road then changes into the CG2 at the Andorran border. You can either carry on through Pas de la Casa and go over the top of the Envalira or use the Envalira tunnel to descend into Andorra La Vella

       Jacques Anquetil was a one off. He had his own ideas about what was good for him. There are two rest days during the Tour de France and wisdom is that riders have to ride their bikes on them, otherwise they seize up. One of the 1964 Tour rest days was in Andorra and while his rivals dutifully rode their bikes then rested, Anquetil went to a party. “Let the others ride on their holidays,” he said as he dug into the barbeque and knocked back a few glasses of champagne. Next day the stage started with the Port d’Envalira and immediately Anquetil was in trouble. He was left behind and in a very bad way. A team mate rallied him, and on the descent they chased like lunatics. In front of him the favourites raced away because they thought they’d got rid of Anquetil. It took him 140 kilometres to catch them, but catch them he did and he even managed to gain time on some of his rivals.

      Mist rolling over the Envalira

      The Pas de la Casa

      Guzet-Neige

      ‘MILLAR’S MASTERPIECE’

       2 STARS

      Length: 11.5 km

      Altitude: 1520 metres

      Height gain: 818 metres

      Average gradient: 7%

      Maximum gradient: 10%

      WHAT TO EXPECT

       Constant climbing. Once you leave the Ustou valley there is no respite, and with plenty of gradient changes you gear shifters will get a lot of use.

       Climbing warm-up. The road from Oust to the start of the Guzet-Neige climbs slowly, rising about 600 metres in 12 kilometres. It is well worth doing as a warm-up and for the beauty of the countryside that surrounds it.

       Circuit training. Once you’ve completed Guzet-Neige, why not do the Col de Latrape? Go back down to the D8–D68 junction and turn right onto the D8. You then descend for a bit, before a short climb takes you over the Col de Latrape. You can then go down and up that climb to tick it off, or just descend and continue on to Oust for a nice mountain circuit of 60 kilometres. Or you could do both.

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