Sportive

Video – Climbs to ride – Col de la Bonette (from Jausiers)

The Col Collective take on the highest paved road in the Alps

The Col de la Bonette is one hell of a climb – the highest paved road in the Alps at 2,802m above sea level.

Climbing through the Mercantour National Park, the ascent, which has featured in the Tour de France on four occasions, including 1993 when Britain’s Robert Millar led the way over the summit, is 24km in length.

It also boasts a nasty sting in the tail, as Mike Cotty knows only too well after tackling it as part of his non-stop ride through the Alps in 2013.

Cotty has returned to the climb for this installment of the Col Collective and says pacing should be your prime focus if you want to take it on yourself.

“Pacing, pacing, pacing should be circulating in your head like a broken record throughout, especially as the steepest gradients up to 15 per cent come in the final kilometre,” he says.

“As I made it to the summit [in 2013] I could feel an overwhelming sense of fulfillment surge through my whole body, the pain disappeared and despite everything I felt more alive than ever. That’s the true power of the Bonette and the reason why I love this climb so much.”