Plateau de Beille

Climb Description

Plateau de Beille is a relative newcomer to the Tour de France, having first been used in the 1998 edition. However, it has quickly become known as one of the most challenging and most feared climbs in the Pyrenees. Stage winners here have included Marco Pantani, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador - giving some idea of what it takes to conquer this climb. The challenge is in the unrelenting gradients. It rarely gets above 12%, but the road also rarely drops below 8% until the final couple of kilometres, and so a sustained hard effort is needed to get to the top.

The climb itself is in forest for much of the ascent where it is quiet and enjoyable without being spectacular. However, it does open up towards the top of the climb with some great views down into the valley and across to the higher peaks in the region. The plateau itself - at the end of the road - is a small ski resort and also the start of several hiking trails.

Plateau de Beille is usually kept open throughout the year to enable access to the ski resort. It can be very cold in winter though, and we recommend riding it only from late April to the end of October.

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