Col de la Colombière () (elevation 1613 m) is a

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

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. ...

in the department of

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It connects

Cluses Cluses (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. Citizens are known as ''Clusiens''. The commune is situated in the Arve Valley, on the river which bears the same name. Cluse ...

in the

Arve The Arve () is a river in France ('' département'' of Haute-Savoie), and Switzerland (canton of Geneva). A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long, of which 9 km in Switzerland. Its catchment area is , of which 80 km2 in Switzerlan ...

valley with

Le Grand-Bornand Le Grand-Bornand (; ) is a commune in the eastern French department of Haute-Savoie. The commune is a ski resort and takes its name from the river that runs through it. The inhabitants of Le Grand-Bornand are called Bornandins. Geography Locat ...

in the Bourne valley. The road then leads further to

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

or over

Col des Aravis The Col des Aravis is a mountain pass in the French Alps that connects the towns of La Clusaz in Haute-Savoie with La Giettaz in Savoie. At 1487 m it is the lowest pass in the Aravis Range of mountains. Appearances in Tour de France (Since 194 ...

to the

Arly The Arly () is a 32.1 km long river in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France. It is a tributary of the Isère, which it joins at Albertville. Towns crossed by the river * Megève * Praz-sur-Arly * Flumet * Saint-Nicolas-la-C ...

valley and is situated between the

Massif des Bornes The Bornes Massif (, ) are a mountainous massif in the north French Prealps in the department of Haute-Savoie. It has 20 peaks higher than 2000 m and is a popular destination for winter sports. The massif is the source of the celebrated chee ...

to the north-west and the Chaîne des Aravis to the south-east. The pass is not an important traffic route because there are better roads that parallel it, particularly the

A40 autoroute The Autoroute A40 is a motorway in France that extends from Mâcon on the west to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Passy on the east, terminating not far from Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The road runs through Bresse, the high southern Jura Mou ...

Details of climb

Although the pass is not very high, it is technically difficult for cyclists. Starting from Scionzier, the climb is 16.3 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1108 m (an average percentage of 6.8%). The steepest section is 10.2% near the summit. From

, the Col de la Colombière is 11.7 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 690 m (an average percentage of 5.9%). On 31 May 2015,

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

broke his leg near the start of the climb in Scionzier.

Appearances in Tour de France

The pass was first included 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 ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and has since featured 23 times, most recently in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Notes

References

External links

Cycling both sides with map, video, profiles, photosProfile on climbbybike.comCol de la Colombière on Google Maps (Tour de France classic climbs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colombiere Mountain passes of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain passes of the Alps Landforms of Savoie Transport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Climbs in cycle racing in France

Details of climb

Appearances in Tour de France

See also

Notes

References

External links