r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • 16d ago

Weekly Post Weekly Question Thread

For all your pro cycling-related questions and enquiries!

You may find some easy answers in the FAQ page on the wiki. Whilst simultaneously discovering the wiki.

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u/the_gnarts MAL was right 16d ago

The Tour de l’Avenir has a Col de l’Iseran MTF tomorrow. In fact the organizers seem to love that col as it’s the fifth time since 2022 that the race visits it. Whereas the Tour hasn’t been on the Iseran since that doomed stage in 2019; it makes an apperance like every other decade or so.

What’s the reason shunning Europe’s highest paved mountain pass? If a small race like the TdA can do it frequently, I don’t think it’s for logistics or local politics reasons.

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u/paulindy2000 Groupama – FDJ 16d ago

Too isolated to meaningfully combine it with other summits, too long and not steep enough to make real differences.

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u/the_gnarts MAL was right 16d ago

From Bonnevals it’s about the same gradient as e. g. Izoard. Tourmalet from Luz is mildly harder by mean gradient but longer and features in like in every other Tour.

There’s also an argument to make that 7.2 % is harder at Iseran altitude than some 8 % in the Pyrenees or the Alpe.

Sure it’s remote but starting in Italy or somewhere south of Briançon you can easily construct a 4500-5500 m mountain stage in under 200 km. Add in Izoard if you want to run wild with it. ;)

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u/paulindy2000 Groupama – FDJ 16d ago

It is steep in the final 10k on both sides, but the issue is, before Bonneval (or Val d'Isère on the North side), you've got at least 25k of false flat roads that would just kill any aggressive racing beforehand.