Greatest cycling climbs #1 Port de Pailhères



Photo: Touho Häkkinen



Sign at the top.
Altitude: 2001 m
Location: Ariège department of the French Pyrenees.








The east side of Port de Pailhèires, graph www.cyclingcols,com



A view from the top
(photo: Touho Häkkinen)

Port de Pailhères is the second highest col in the French Pyrenees, only second to the Col du Tourmalet's 2115 m. Starting from Mijanès, the ascent is 10.6 km long (vertical climb 871 m, average percentage 8.2%, maximum gradient 10.2%. The east side with the long gentle section from Axat in the beginning, is a massive 36 km long ascent with a total vertical climb of 1600 m. The last section is the one that hurts. Each of a dozen tight hairpins is followed by a ramp seemingly steeper than the one before, their gradients rising to a leg-snapping 12%, every metre of the narrow road thronged with enthusiastic voyeurs.

The other side, starting from Ax-les-Thermes, measures 18.6 km (vertical climb 1281 m, average percentage 6.9%, maximum gradient 10.4%.

Crowded in the swings
(photo: Touho Häkkinen)

The Port de Palhèires has been used in four stages of the Tour de France cycle race in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2010. Leaders, top of Col de Paihères:
2010 Christophe Riblon
2007 Rubén Pérez
2005 Georg Totschnig
2003 Juan Miguel Mercado

"In my mind, this uphill absolutely belongs to the category beastly ascents. I made the climb only 2-3 hours before Christophe Riblon came up in TdF year 2010. The beginning is like playing soccer in the corner, but it gets worse after Mijanès. It was hot as in Finnish sauna and I could only make it with a huge support of hundred thousand spectators. Big old man struggling was fun for them: they were singing, shouting, throwing water, playing drums and even pushing my Bianchi. The last hairpins were a serious challenge that I will never forget." (Oopee Z, 2010)

Oopee Z near Mijanès, still the easy part
(photo: Touho Häkkinen)