3 is the magic number
Mother Nature must be a cycling fan. I’m convinced of this because today’s course is too flawless to be coincidence. It’s a perfect loop of 113km that by the time I end up back where I started will have taken me up and over three high Alpine passes, each breaking the mythical 2,000m barrier. There’s not a single kilometre of flat road on the whole ride. All of the climbs are a challenge, but with average gradients between 6% and 7% none are too intimidating either.
Perfect multi-peak cycling loops like this are hard to find, but of course they do exist elsewhere. Prime examples include the loop encompassing the imperious Furka, Grimsel and Sustenpass in Switzerland, which takes in three glaciers, four lakes and 58 hairpins, as well as numerous examples of masterful Swiss engineering. Then there’s the Sella Ronda in Italy, which squeezes the ascents of the Gardena, Sella, Pordoi and Campolongo passes into just 52km of winding tarmac and towering limestone peaks.
Yet while both those rides are firmly printed into amateur cyclo-tourist lore, today’s outing is relatively unheard of. Known by locals as Les Trois Cols, it includes the Col de la Cayolle, Col d’Allos and Col des Champs – three Alpine passes that are seldom discussed or lauded yet deserve more plaudits than they get thanks to breathtaking views and uncrowded roads. And to top it all off, it was on this hallowed ground that cycling’s greatest son, Eddy Merckx, saw his dominance of the Tour de France come to an end.
With every corner we tick off, the mix of trees, grass and rocks that clings to the craggy mountainsides offers a reminder of just how charming
