Читать книгу Tour Climbs: The complete guide to every mountain stage on the Tour de France - Chris Sidwells - Страница 38

2 STARS

Length: 18.1 km

Altitude: 1069 metres

Height gain: 557 metres

Average gradient: 3%

Maximum gradient: 10.8%

WHAT TO EXPECT

The worst is last. The last two kilometres of this climb are the hardest.

Difficult descent. There are some very steep down gradients on the twisty descent, and the road is not wide. Take extra special care, particularly when you see the 17% signs.

Hard the other way. The western side of the Portet d’Aspet is a harder climb than the eastern side. The 17% part is quite long and you will need very low gears for it.

Linking up. The Col de Menté starts exactly at the point where the western descent of the Portet d’Aspet ends. Just before the turn there is a stone building and a low stone wall on your right. The road bends sharply right over a bridge and the Menté road is on your left at the apex of this bend.

A very tough climb from either side, since 1995 the Portet d’Aspet has been connected with one of the three tragic deaths in Tour de France history, when an Italian rider, Fabio Casartelli crashed and was killed on the descent of the western side of the climb.

Actually, in an event where men throw themselves into tumultuous sprint finishes, flog their tired bodies up incredible mountains and hurtle down the other sides at impossible speeds, it’s amazing that there haven’t been more deaths than those of Francisco Cepeda in 1935, Tom Simpson in 1967 and Casartelli in 1995.

Aside from its tragic connection, the Portet d’Aspet is a real Pyrenean gem. It starts easily, even if some short descents on the way up keep loosing you what little height you gain in the first two-thirds of the climb.

At 12 kilometres you are still only 700 metres above sea level and have only risen about 200 metres, so with 389 metres left to be climbed in only six kilometres you know what is in store for you. The sense of foreboding won’t be lifted by the fact that the next two kilometres only averages a five percent gradient either.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, the last two kilometres are a brutal slog of ten percent and more as you climb the lacets that spin giddily upwards after the hamlet of Aspet. The one good thing about the top of the climb is that you are still in the shade of the trees that shelter you all the way up and down this climb.

The descent down the western side is very steep, twisty and has an irregular gradient that shifts between five and nine percent. There is a stretch of 17 percent. It was just after this that Casartelli came to grief in 1995. He crashed and slid across the road, smashing his head against one of the square blocks that are placed to stop vehicles plunging over the edge. Since his death some of the blocks have been replaced, especially close to where he fell, but not all. Be very careful.

WHICH WAY?

The eastern side of the climb starts in Audressein, a tiny village that is 12 kilometres southwest of St Girons on the D618. St Girons is 30 kilometres southeast of junction 20 of the A64 Autoroute on the D117. Continue through Audressein on the D618 to the top of the climb.

The Portet d’Aspet was first climbed in the Tour by Octave Lapize in 1910. Since then the race has visited the climb regularly, 27 times since 1947 alone.

Two famous Spanish climbers, Frederico Bahamontes and Julio Jiménez share the record by crossing the Portet d’Aspet in first place three times.

A beautiful stone and marble memorial to Fabio Casartelli has been built on the spot where he died. It records his Olympic road race title in 1992 and there is a sundial on it. There is also a hole drilled through the base of the stone. Each year, at exactly the time when Casartelli died the sun shines through this hole and illuminates figures engraved on the other face of the stone. The figures record the date of his birth, the date he won Olympic Gold and the date that he died.

Summit of the Portet d’Aspet

Beginning of the descent; it’s a tricky one

The Fabio Casartelli memorial

The marble comes from Casartelli’s home region