CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A one-way ride of 495 km, Thonon-les-Bains to Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée - roughly 9 h 40 in the saddle. It goes by way of Col des Gets, Col des Aravis, Col du Cormet de Roselend and Col de l Iseran. The highest point is about 2,750 m. Cormet de Roselend, Col du Galibier, Col d Izoard, Col de Vars and Col de Restefond are subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Cold comes early up here and stays late. Ride it with something in reserve: the summit is not the end of the work, only the middle of it. The last of the trees go and the road runs out onto open ground. The summit sits at 1967 m, and what surrounds it is rock, weather and distance.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Height already gained and held. The road stays near 2764 m for 143 km instead of surrendering it to the next valley — exposed ground: wind matters more here than gradient. Nothing blocks it.
70 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it. This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else.
A steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not. The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 62 km. 607 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall.
Thonon-les-Bains sits on the southern shore of Lake Geneva, facing Switzerland across about ten kilometres of water, and it is where the Route des Grandes Alpes officially starts. This was the first great tourist road of France, planned in the early twentieth century by the Touring Club de France to link the lake with the Mediterranean via the highest passes of the French Alps, and the road runs for about seven hundred kilometres over a series of cols, ending in Menton. The fine promenade along the lake, with its views of the Swiss shore and the Jura, and the fish restaurants serving perch fillets, are a gentle prelude.
Read the complete Thonon les Bains write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thonon les Bains is where the day begins. Next is Col des Gets.
The Col des Gets is a gentle pass of 1,172 metres between the Giffre and Dranse valleys in the Haute-Savoie, linking the villages of Les Gets and Morzine, and it sits on the old Route des Grandes Alpes, the long road from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean. It is not a high or wild pass, but it is a handsome one, with rolling meadows, fir forests and wooden chalets, and the crest of the hills above it holds ski lifts that turn into mountain bike routes in summer.
Read the complete Col des Gets write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col des Gets comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Col des Aravis, climbing 314 m.
The Col des Aravis, at 1,486 metres, joins the Arve and Thônes valleys across the Aravis range, and it is one of the most scenic of the middle-height passes in the northern French Alps. The view from the pass looks across to the Mont Blanc massif, dominating the skyline on a clear day, with the white dome and glaciers above dark forests, and in front of it stretch the green pastures of the Aravis. A handful of chalets and a small café stand near the summit, and several farms sell cheese directly from their barns.
Read the complete Col des Aravis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Col des Aravis. The road climbs 314 m on the way up to it, steadily. Next is Col du Cormet de Roselend, climbing 481 m.
The Cormet de Roselend is the pass of cheese and water. It lies in the Beaufortain massif, between the town of Beaufort and the valley of the Isère, and for much of the climb you are riding through the pastures where the cows that make Beaufort cheese spend their summers, wearing bells and grazing on alpine flowers. The cheese, which is aged in the valley, is one of the most prized in France, and it is the reason this valley is prosperous and well kept. A wheel, with its distinctive concave edge, is sold in nearly every village.
Read the complete Col du Cormet de Roselend write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col du Cormet de Roselend, about halfway at 1967 m. The road climbs 481 m on the way up to it, steadily. Next is Col de l Iseran, climbing 797 m.
The Iseran is the roof of the Alps, as far as paved passes go. At 2,764 metres, it is the highest of the great Alpine passes, a shade above the Stelvio, and the road over it was opened in 1937 to link the Tarentaise valley with the Maurienne, a feat of engineering that took years of work in short summers. It goes through the heart of the Vanoise National Park, France's first, created in 1963 to protect the ibex, which had been almost wiped out by hunters, and the park's work has been a success, as there are thousands now.
Read the complete Col de l Iseran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col de l Iseran sits at 328 km, about halfway. The road climbs 797 m on the way up to it, steadily. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Col du Galibier.
The Galibier is the big one, and it knows it. At 2,642 metres this is one of the high gates of the French Alps, the saddle where the Maurienne valley to the north hands you over to the Guisane and the Briançonnais to the south, and the road crosses it by way of a short tunnel under the actual crest, or, for those who want the proper view, by the final few hundred metres of open hairpin that go over the top. The summit marker stands on the old crest, with a monument to Henri Desgrange, the founder of the Tour de France, who first sent the race over this pass in 1911. Cyclists still turn up in swarms to touch the sign, so expect lycra and an unhurried pace.
Read the complete Col du Galibier write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col du Galibier comes up about 346 km into the recorded legs. Next is Col d Izoard, mostly downhill.
The Col d'Izoard, at 2,360 metres, is one of the great passes of the French Alps, on the road between Briançon and the Queyras, and the south side is the part riders remember. A few kilometres below the summit the road passes through the Casse Déserte, a startling field of orange and grey scree and rock pinnacles, eroded into odd shapes, which looks more like the surface of another planet than the Alps. In front of it stands a monument to the cyclists Fausto Coppi and Louison Bobet, who both won here in the Tour de France, and the Tour has crossed the pass many times.
Read the complete Col d Izoard write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 399 km into the recorded legs you reach Col d Izoard. You lose 282 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Col de Vars, mostly downhill.
The Col de Vars is the gentle one on the Route des Grandes Alpes, and it knows how to be pleasant. At 2,108 metres it separates the Guil valley from the valley of the Ubaye, linking Guillestre in the Hautes-Alpes to Barcelonnette on the other side, and from the top you look over rounded grassy slopes, scattered larches and a few farm buildings, with the jagged peaks of the Queyras and the Mercantour at a respectful distance. It lacks the savage edges of the higher passes, and is better for it on a warm day, when the grass smells of thyme and the cowbells carry on the wind.
Read the complete Col de Vars write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col de Vars, late in the day at 2108 m. You lose 252 m on the way down to it, steadily. Next is Col de la Bonette, climbing 607 m.
The Col de la Bonette is the high-altitude trophy of the Alps, and it is worth being clear about the statistics. The pass itself is at 2,715 metres, but a loop road branches off to circle the Cime de la Bonette at 2,802 metres, making it the highest paved through road in Europe, or so it is usually claimed. The road was built largely for military reasons in the 1930s, when France worried about its Italian border, and finished in its present form around 1960. Up here, on the border of the Mercantour National Park, the landscape is bare scree and rock, with patches of snow lingering into July, and nothing grows taller than a lichen.
Read the complete Col de la Bonette write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 495 km. The road climbs 607 m on the way up to it, steadily.
Thonon les Bains → Col des Gets climbs about 1172 m in 37 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Col des Gets → Col des Aravis is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Col des Aravis → Col du Cormet de Roselend climbs about 481 m in 62 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Col du Cormet de Roselend → Col de l Iseran climbs about 797 m in 73 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Col de l Iseran → Col du Galibier is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Col du Galibier → Col d Izoard is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Col d Izoard → Col de Vars is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Col de Vars → Col de la Bonette climbs about 607 m in 47 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.