The Col du Petit Ballon (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the

Vosges Mountains The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

in the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

department of France, close to the summit of the Petit Ballon mountain (). It was crossed on Stage 10 of the

2014 Tour de France The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July. The race a ...

cycle race.

Details of climb

From the north, the climb starts in

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

from where the climb is long, gaining in altitude, at an average gradient of 6.7%. The climb proper starts at

Luttenbach-près-Munster Luttenbach-près-Munster () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. ...

, where it leaves the D10. From here, the climb is long, at an average gradient of 8.1%. From the north-west, the climb starts at

Metzeral Metzeral () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The communes ...

, passing through the village of

Sondernach Sondernach is a commune in the Haut-Rhin ''département'' in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography Located in the parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges, the village of Sondernach shares with Mittlach the benefit of being situa ...

, where the route leaves the D10. The total distance is , gaining in altitude, at an average gradient of 5.3%. It is also possible to access the col via the D43 from

Wihr-au-Val Wihr-au-Val (; german: Weier im Thal; gsw-als, Wihr ìm Dàl) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 comm ...

to the north-east from where the climb is long, gaining in altitude, at an average gradient of 5.3%.

Tour de France

The col was used for the first time on Stage 10 of the

, when the leader over the summit was the Spanish rider,

Joaquim Rodríguez Joaquim Rodríguez Oliver (born 12 May 1979) is a former Spanish professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 2001 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Rodríguez recorded notable results included fourteen Grand Tour stage victories, an ...

. The col was used again on Stage 20 of the

2023 Tour de France The 2023 Tour de France will be the 110th edition of the Tour de France. It will start in Bilbao, Spain on 1 July and end with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris on 23 July. Teams 22 teams are scheduled to take part in the race. All 1 ...

. The leader over the summit was the French rider

Thibaut Pinot Thibaut Pinot (born 29 May 1990) is a French professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Once considered one of the most promising talents in French cycling, he finished third overall in the 2014 Tour de France and first in the ...

. During that stage, the top of the climb became known as the "virage pinot" (Pinot's corner). Pinot's fans gathered at the summit to cheer the rider during the last Tour de France mountain stage of his career.

Tour de France Femmes

The col was used on

Stage 7 ''Stage 7'' is a 30-minute American TV drama anthology series that was broadcast on CBS from December 12, 1954, through September 25, 1955. This program premiered in December 1954 with the title ''Your Favorite Playhouse'' with all episodes bein ...

of the

2022 Tour de France Femmes The 2022 Tour de France Femmes (officially Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift) was the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes, one of women's cycling's two grand tours. The race took place from 24 to 31 July 2022, and was the 16th event in the ...

, with

Demi Vollering Demi Vollering (born 15 November 1996) is a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2019 she won the Volta Limburg Classic and the Giro dell'Emilia. In 2021 she won Liège–Bastogne–Liège, her fi ...

first over the summit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petit Ballon, Col du Mountain passes of Grand Est Mountain passes of the Vosges