A chance to get off the beaten track
A chance to get off the beaten track
As we touched on earlier, there are a huge number of paved passes in the Alps, many of which have barely featured in the Tour, if at all.
And given how easy it is to base yourself in one place and take in multiple climbs you don’t have to sacrifice having a crack at one of the big names if you also want to engage in a bit of exploring.
Plus, just because they’ve never appeared in the road manual on the road from the Grand Depart to Paris definitely doesn’t mean they’re not worth riding. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
For a start, a lot of the big climbs have multiple routes and various starting points, and if you search around you’ll find roads where you’ll barely see another cyclist, let alone a car, for hours at a time. Just look at the amazing Lacets de Montvernier from this year’s Tour route – the first time the race had been up that beautiful road, and yet now it will have made its way onto many people’s ‘must ride’ lists.