Col de
la Colombière
Terrible
Ending
19.5 kms; 1,150 metres ascent; Start:
Cluses
24.8 kms; 1,500 metres ascent; Start:
Cluses
17.5 kms; 750 metres ascent; Start:
La Clusaz
Last Climb: May
2007
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Map of Route
The Tour de France first climbed Col de la Colombière in 1960. Since then many legendary climbers have gone over Colombière at the front of the Peleton including French hero richard Virenque in 1997, and Marco Pantani in 2000.
If you like climbing, pick the north side, the classic route starting in Cluses, following the D4.
Colombiere is often in the Tour including in 2006 (West/South Side) and 2007 (East/North side)There is a lesser known harder second way up the North Side. Just east of Scionzier, take the D119 up to Romme, then descend to Reposier, rejoining the classic route.
Blog Entry (2005) - We climbed the legendary Col de la Colombière today (north side).
I am not sure why I have never climbed this hill - as it is only 45
minutes from home and features often in the Tour de France.
We climbed the harder north side. It is 17 kms with about 1,100
meters of ascension. It keeps getting harder with the last 3 kms
easily the hardest with stretches of 12%! After i finished the climb
I descended about 7 kms down the other side and climbed back up
succesfully timimg it so I met Doreen at the top.
She had called me with about 4 kms for her to go, asking for some
encouragement. A difficult task as I had experienced how hard the
last 3 kms were. As always she bravely persevered. Although she
understandably struggled, I think she was cheered to see 2 fit
looking guys pushing their bikes near the top when we started our
descent.
