Peyragudes is a large ski resort in the French

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 C ...

, situated in the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's ...

, in the Region of

Occitanie Occitanie may refer to: *Occitania, a region in southern France called ''Occitanie'' in French *Occitania (administrative region) Occitania ( ; french: Occitanie ; oc, Occitània ; ca, Occitània ) is the southernmost administrative region of ...

. The resort was created in 1988, when the Peyresourde and Agudes resorts were joined.

Skiing

The resort is located on 2 sides of the same mountain, connected thru several lifts. There are 18

ski lift A ski lift is a mechanism for transporting skiers up a hill. Ski lifts are typically a paid service at ski resorts. The first ski lift was built in 1908 by German Robert Winterhalder in Schollach/Eisenbach, Hochschwarzwald. Types * Aerial ...

s and 51 ski slopes: * 6 green slopes * 23 blue slopes * 18 red slopes * 4 black slopes A major part of the resort is equipped with 230 snow-guns. Skyvall is a new €30m gondola linking Loudenvielle in the Vallee du Louron to the mountain village at Peyragudes.

Cycling

The climb up to the ski-resort can be accessed from the D618 between

Arreau Arreau (; oc, Àrreu) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in southwestern France. It is situated on the former Route nationale 618, the ''Route of the Pyrénées''. Arreau is at the crossroads of the Louron valley and the Aure val ...

and the ''

Col de Peyresourde The Col de Peyresourde ( oc, Còth de Pèira Sorda) (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the central Pyrenees on the border of the department of Haute-Garonne and Hautes-Pyrénées in France. It is situated on the D618 road between Bagnères-de-L ...

''. The summit is situated at . The climb was used on the 2010

Route du Sud The Route d'Occitanie is a road bicycle race with 4 stages held annually in Southern France. It was first held in 1977 and since 2005 it has been organised as a 2.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is usually held a week before the Tour de France ...

, when

David Moncoutié David Moncoutié (born 30 April 1975) is a retired French professional road racing cyclist, who rode with the French team , for his entire professional career. He was a climber, and won his first professional race in a mountain stage of Crité ...

was the first rider to cross the line, going on to win the whole race.

Tour de France

In 2012, Peyragudes was the finish of Stage 17 of 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 consists ...

. The summit of the climb for the purposes of the

King of the Mountains The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest ...

was 1,000 m. before the end of the stage, at a height of . First over the summit was

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Valverde's biggest wins have been the Vuelta a España in 2009, Critérium du Dauphiné in 2008 and 2009, ...

, who went on to win the stage, with

Chris Froome Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France (in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), one ...

and

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...

19 seconds behind.

Romain Bardet Romain Bardet (born 9 November 1990) is a French professional racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification contenders in Gra ...

won the stage in the 2017 Tour, while Aru took the yellow jersey from

. In the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Tour

Brandon McNulty Brandon Alexander McNulty (born April 2, 1998) is an American cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . In the 2016 UCI Road World Championships – Men's junior time trial, 2016 UCI Junior World Time Trial Championships McNulty became the fourth Ame ...

broke the entire GC group with the exception of teammate

Tadej Pogačar Tadej Pogačar (; born 21 September 1998) is a Slovenian cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour de France, winning three different jerseys during each Tour, a feat unseen in nearly four deca ...

, who won the stage, and

Jonas Vingegaard Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen (; born 10 December 1996) is a Danish cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He won the 2022 edition of the Tour de France. Vingegaard started as a youth rider for various Danish teams, making his breakthrough as a sen ...

who retained the yellow jersey after finishing second on the stage.

Other Appearances in the Tour

The climb was also used in Stage 17 of the 2018 Tour de France, with

Tanel Kangert Tanel Kangert (born 11 March 1987) is an Estonian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2022. Early life Kangert was born in Vändra, Estonia. He attended kindergarten alongside fellow Estonian cyclist Rein Taar ...

first over the summit.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official websiteStation de Peyragudes on www.climbbybike.com
Ski areas and resorts in France Hautes-Pyrénées Haute-Garonne