Col de la Bonette (el. ) is a high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the French

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, near the border with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is situated within the Mercantour National Park on the border of the departments of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...

and

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (sometimes abbreviated as AHP; ; ; ), formerly until 1970 known as Basses-Alpes (, ), is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the sou ...

. The road over the col is the eight highest paved road in the Alps.

Col de Restefond

The passage over the Col de la Bonette is often mistakenly referred to as the '' Col de Restefond'', and in the 2008 Tour de France the summit was referred to as the ''Cime de la Bonette-Restefond''. Stage 16 of the tour approached the summit from

Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (, literally ''Saint-Étienne of Tinée''; ; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Sant Estève d'en Tiniá'') is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. It was part of the historic County of Nice until 1 ...

(south-east), and after reaching the Col de la Bonette, took a loop round the Cime de la Bonette reaching the summit of , which is the highest point reached by the Tour de France, before re-passing the Col de la Bonette. On the descent to Jausiers, the actual Col de Restefond was then passed on the right approximately 1 km from the summit.

“Highest road in Europe”

The two kilometre long teardrop shaped loop around the Cime de la Bonette peak () from either side of the pass is the highest paved through route in the Alps. The road around the Cime de la Bonette reaches an altitude of , but this is not a " pass", but merely a scenic loop. It is, however, the highest

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

ed road in France and is the highest through road in Europe.

Tour de France

The pass has featured in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

five times (1962, 1964, 1993, 2008, and 2024). In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, the race was led over the summit in both years by Federico Bahamontes, approaching from the south in 1962 and from the north in 1964. Robert Millar led over the summit (from the north) in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

John-Lee Augustyn led over the mountain (from the south), before falling on the descent to Jausiers.

Appearances in Tour de France

References

External links

Preview of Bonette Stage in 2008 Tour de France

Motorbiking in the Alps

Map of the Col de la Bonette and the Col de RestefondCol de la Bonette on Google Maps (Tour de France classic climbs)Cycling up to the Col de la Bonette: data, profile, map, photos and description
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonette Mercantour National Park Mountain passes of the Alps Landforms of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Landforms of Alpes-Maritimes Mountain passes of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Transport in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur