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Col du Grand Colombier

Mountain pass in France

Field	Value
name	Col du Grand Colombier
photo	Cyclistes dans l'ascension du Grand Colombier.jpg
photo_caption	Cyclists ascending the pass
elevation_m	1498
traversed	D120
map	France#Alps
map_caption	Location in France##Location in Alps
label	Col du Grand Colombier
coords
location	Ain, France
range	Jura

Col du Grand Colombier (el. 1498 m) is a mountain pass in the Jura mountains in France.

This pass lies at the southern extremity of the Jura in the massif of the Grand Colombier. With the Col du Chasseral, it is the highest road pass in the Jura. It passes between the Grand Colombier (el. 1531 m) and the Croix du Colombier (1525 m), which is accessible by trail from the pass.

The view from the summit is superb, either down the valley of the Rhône, the Lac du Bourget and the gorges of Val-de-Fier, or the distant peaks of the Alps.

Cycle racing

It is one of the most difficult passes in France, with stretches in excess of 20% on the climb from Artemare via Virieu-le-Petit on the Bugey (western) side. The ascent is 15.9 km long, gaining 1245 m in elevation at an average gradient of 7.8%, The pass has seen frequent use in cycling, being a regular feature of the Tour de l'Ain and also used in the Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de l'Avenir.

From Culoz (south), the ascent is 18.3 km long, gaining 1255 m in elevation at an average gradient of 6.9%, but with some sections at 12%. This climb is the direction used on Stage 5 of the 2012 Critérium du Dauphiné and Stage 10 of the 2012 Tour de France.

The Col can also be reached from Anglefort (east), from where it is 15.2 km in length, climbing 1205 m at an average grade of 7.9% with maximum gradient of 14%

Tour de France

It was visited by the Tour de France for the first time on Stage 10 of the 2012 Tour as a Hors Catégorie climb. The leader over the summit was Thomas Voeckler, who went on to take the stage victory in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. Stage 15 of the 2020 Tour finished atop the pass. The stage was won by Tadej Pogacar, the eventual general classification winner of that year's race. It returned on stage 13 of the 2023 Tour de France as a finish atop the mountain.

Tour de France stage finishes

Year	Stage	Start of stage	Distance (km)	Category	Stage winner	Leader in general classification
2020	15	Lyon	174.5	HC	Tadej Pogačar	Primož Roglič
2023	13	Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne	138	HC	Michal Kwiatkowski	Jonas Vingegaard

Other appearances in Tour de France

Year	Stage	Category	Start	Finish	Leader at the summit
2012	10	HC	Mâcon	Bellegarde-sur-Valserine	Thomas Voeckler
2016	15	HC	Bourg-en-Bresse	Culoz	Rafal Majka
2017	9	HC	Nantua	Chambéry	Warren Barguil

References

"Col du Grand Colombier from Artemare, via Virieu-le-Petit : 1498m".
"Col du Grand Colombier from Culoz : 1498m".
"Mountain passes & Hills: Stage 10". [[Amaury Sport Organisation]].
Atkins, Ben. (8 June 2012). "Arthur Vichot takes his biggest ever victory in breakaway stage five". VeloNation LLC.
"Col du Grand Colombier from Anglefort : 1498m".
"STAGE 10: Mâcon – Bellegarde-sur-Valserine". Tour de France 2012.
Cossins, Peter. (11 July 2012). "Voeckler wins from breakaway in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine". Future Publishing Limited.
Farrand, Stephen. (15 October 2019). "Tour de France 2020 route revealed". Cycling News.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

mountain-passes-of-auvergne-rhône-alpes mountain-passes-of-the-jura landforms-of-ain

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