Col du Soulor (elevation ) is a
mountain pass in the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
, linking
Argelès-Gazost with
Arthez-d'Asson. It connects the Ouzom and Arens valleys. A road leaves the pass to the west to reach the higher
Col d'Aubisque
The Col d'Aubisque ( oc, Còth d'Aubisca) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees south of Tarbes and Pau in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Aquitaine region of France.Chany, Pierre (1988), La Fabuleuse Histoire du ...
.
The road over the col is regularly used in the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...
cycling race, normally in conjunction with the Col d'Aubisque.
Details of the climbs
Starting from
Argelès-Gazost (east), the Soulor is . It rises , an average gradient of 5.2%. It gets tough after
Arrens-Marsous with stretches at 10% or steeper.
The col can also be reached from the north, via the D126. Starting from
Arthez-d'Asson, the ascent is long. Over this distance, the climb gains , at an average of 4.9%. The real climbing, however, comes at
Ferrières, after which the gradient increases to 9%. This was the direction used in the
2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996. The race visited thr ...
.
Tour de France
The Col du Soulor was first used in the
1910 Tour de France
The 1910 Tour de France was the eighth edition of the Tour de France, taking place 3 to 31 July. It consisted of 15 stages over , ridden at an average speed of 28.680 km/h. It was the first Tour to enter the Pyrenees mountains. Two main cand ...
and was most recently featured in the 17th stage of the
2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996. The race visited thr ...
, as a category 1 climb.
The Col du Soulor is also crossed during the passage over the
Col d'Aubisque
The Col d'Aubisque ( oc, Còth d'Aubisca) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees south of Tarbes and Pau in the department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Aquitaine region of France.Chany, Pierre (1988), La Fabuleuse Histoire du ...
. When this route is used, for example in stage 16 of the
2012 Tour de France
The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 22 July. The Tour consisted of 21 stages, ...
, it is often not a categorized climb,
since the amount of re-ascent from the west is relatively small. It has, however, been a categorized climb on 12 occasions, including in
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...
as a
hors catégorie
''Hors catégorie'' (HC) is a French term used in stage bicycle races to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization". The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass.
The HC climb is the ...
climb.
Passages in the Tour de France (since 1947)
The categorized crossings of the Col du Soulor since 1947 were as follows:
See also
*
Souvenir Henri Desgrange
The Souvenir Henri Desgrange is an award and cash prize given in the yearly running of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. It is won by the rider that crosses a particular point in the race, mostly the summits of the highest a ...
References
External links
Col du Soulor on Google Maps (Tour de France classic climbs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soulor
Mountain passes of the Pyrenees
Mountain passes of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Mountain passes of Hautes-Pyrénées
Landforms of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Transport in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Transport in Occitania (administrative region)