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The Col de l'Iseran
is the highest paved mountain pass in the Alps with its
breathtaking 2.770 metres.
It is part of the French Graian Alps and belongs to the
Route des Grandes Alpes.
It connects the Isère Valley and the Arc River Valley
between Val-d'Isère in the north and Bonneval-sur-Arc in
the south.
Starting from
Bourg-Saint-Maurice, you climb 2.045 metres over
a distance of 46,9 kilometres, pass a number of
galleries and tunnels, and have to overcome a maximum
grade of 9,5 percent. It's fortunately not everywhere so
steep; the average slope is just above 4 percent.
The Col d'Iseran was first used in the Tour de France in
1938 and the first rider over the summit was Felicien
Vervaecke. One year later, in the tour of 1939, the
first mountain time trial was introduced over the Col
d'Iseran, which was won by Sylvere Maes by a margin of
four minutes.
Since 1947 the pass has been used four times in the Tour
de France. It was scheduled to be used in 1996, but was
left out at the last minute due to bad weather. As a
result of snow on both the Col de l'Iseran and the Col
du Galibier, the scheduled 190 kilometres stage was
truncated and reduced to a 46 kilometres sprint from
Le-Monetier-les-Bains which was claimed by Bjarne Riis. |
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