Video: Mike Cotty climbs the Tourmalet for the Col Collective

Mike Cotty has been back in the Pyrenees for his latest Col Collective video – this time taking on one of the first mountains tackled by the Tour de France more than 100 years ago, the Col du Tourmalet.

Introduced to the race in 1910, it has been included in the Tour on more occasions than any other mountain pass, featuring on more than 80 occasions, including two stage finishes at the top of the climb and three in the nearby village of La Mongie.

Its inclusion in the race is the stuff of Tour legend. Alphonse Steinès, who worked at L’Auto, the newspaper which founded the race, reconnoitring the climb by car then, when that could go no further, on foot, with a local boy guiding him.

Completing the climb – a search party had been sent out - he sent a telegram to L’Auto’s publisher Henri Desgrange that read: "Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly feasible."

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Here’s what Cotty has to say:

The Col du Tourmalet has a long and illustrious history with the Tour de France, first used in 1910 it immediately stamped its authority on the race with Frenchman Octave Lapize venting his displeasure and yelling "Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!' ('You are murderers! Yes, murderers!') to officials as he battled his way up little more than a goat track on his single-speed bike. Three years later and Eugène Christophe famously re-welded his fork in a forge at the bottom of the climb in Sainte Marie de Campan only to be given a time penalty for having outside assistance when he needed a second pair of hands to operate the bellows, now if that’s not a little harsh I don’t know what is?

To say that the Tourmalet is a regular in the race is an understatement having been featured over 80 times, and more than any other mountain, in the Tour’s history. From professional racers to amateur riders the Tourmalet is a book of stories a thousand pages long or more. The beauty of this mountain is knowing just how many tales it holds from old to new as you trace your way towards the 2,115 metre summit, making it the highest road pass in the Pyrénées. I’ve ridden the Tourmalet in the rain, shine and even under moonlight and every time I can feel a certain energy that’s unlike anything else. Maybe it’s the legends of the road in spirit riding with you? Maybe it’s my over active imagination dreaming of racing in the Tour? Or maybe it’s just the experience of the Tourmalet

I hope this video helps you conquer the Tourmalet and add your own history to this truly memorable mountain.

Start: Sainte Marie de Campan
Length: 16.9km
Summit: 2,115m
Elevation gain: 1,275m
Average gradient: 7.4%
Max gradient: 13%

You can find much more information, including videos of Cotty tackling some of the other iconic climbs of cycling, on the Col Collective website.

http://thecolcollective.com