France July 2010 - What climbs to do?

SDF64

A few of us are going out to watch the tour next year in the Alps (based just outside Le Bourg D’Oisans for a few days). We’ll be camping out on the Madeleine the night before the stage so will probably ride the climb on the day the pro’s do. We are also hoping to get in a couple of days riding before we head home but may not have enough time to take in all the local climbs.

So here’s the question. What climbs should we target first? The main contenders so far are as follows:


Col du Galibier
Col du Telegraphe
Col du Lautaret
Alpe d’Huez
Les Deux Alpes
Col de la Croix de Fer
Col du Glandon


I know this kind of thing is pretty much down to personal preference but would be interested to see what people think.



Cheers

blackrockracer

All of the listed climbs are within easy reach from your destination. Just to add another to the mix, the col de sarenne. Its actually the back enterance to alp d'huez , its very hard and can get very hot but well worth it as its usually very quite. The climb starts on the opposite side of the lake from the les deux alp climb.

SDF64

Thanks for that blackrockracer, i'll take a look at that.

pneumatic

Working from the North, the easiest of these is the Telegraphe (a really lovely climb) but then one of the hardest is the Galibier (especially the last 8k). That said, I did them both together and it was a fantastic day out, rewarded by the run down the Lautaret and back to Bourg, which is a total blast of a descent.

bobtbuilder

I think you've listed all the famous ones in the area, but there are also heaps of others that are often more visually stunning, but not as challenging as the more famous ones.

Col d'Ornon (1 km from BDO) and the dead-end road to La Berarde which has got to be the more gorgeous road I've ridden to name but two.

cavasta

Check out Climb by Bike for details and profiles of all the major and not-so-major climbs:
http://www.climbbybike.com/
A fine resource.

Airbornerodent

If you get a day when you don't want some barnstorming monster of a run, I'd recommend taking a trip up to St. Christophe-en-Oisans, just down the road from Bourg D'Oisan.

It's approx. a 30 - 40 mile round trip to the village and back, but you can keep going to where the road stops which would make the round trip around 55 miles. It's the most stunning road that I've ever ridden on, passing under Les Deux Alpes and ending up with views of the Barre D'Ecrins.

The scenery from start to finish is immaculate, and i'd say that it's just about an ideal ride for a rest day, as it never really gets that hard and it's just about all downhill on the way back.

blorg

If doing the Ornon there is another one, the Col de la Morte, you can do a loop from Bourg taking in these two, it is basically flat between them. I would do the Col de la Morte first and then the Ornon as you are basically descending into Bourg then rather than finishing with a very long drag home up the main road.

+1 on the Sarenne, it is very nice.

To be honest the Alpe d'Huez is not a particularly nice climb aesthetically, certainly the least so of any of those mentioned, but with the cycling history you would be mad not to have it as the #1 priority.