If you want to ride a road bike on legendary climbs from the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, or Vuelta a Espana, then you are in the right place. Here you will find ready-made instructions, from a logistical standpoint, on how to organize your own ride, whether on your own or on a rented road bike, through the mountain passes where famous cycling races took place.

204 route proposals with a total length of 15516km

       The mountain cycling routes presented on the following pages include:
- Logistics tips for arriving by plane, train, bus, or car;
- A brief description of each proposed route, including suggestions for meal breaks and water refills;
- Suggestions for starting and ending the trip at a train station or locations where road bikes can be rented;
- A route map with elevation profile (ridewithgps.com);
- A route track in gpx format to download to your mobile device;
- Links to the most interesting videos showing the course of the route and cycling race videos on YouTube;
- Information on climb profiles and statistics from cycling races;

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      Routes with hills, including those where no cycling races take place, will be gradually added to the website - more in the news section and Facebook;
in the news section, there will also be information on cost-effective connections with the date of the update provided;

Feedback on the website can be sent to the following email address: krzysztofnowacki@cyclingclimbs.eu

1. When is the best time to conquer mountain passes?

- For France and Italy, the best time would be late spring or early autumn, which means the end of May, June, and September. Visiting during peak season, which is July and August, would be favorable due to sunny weather and the possibility of witnessing the Tour de France (July) live, but the downside would be crowds of holidaymakers, higher prices, and accommodation problems. On the pyrenees-cyclo.com website, it is worth checking beforehand if the passes in the Pyrenees are passable. In 2021, the passage through Col du Tourmalet and Col de Tentes was already open on May 5th, but passes such as Aubisque, Soulor, or Port Balès were still closed. In 2022, the opening of Col du Tourmalet occurred on May 18th. In the French Alps, one of the highest passes, Col du Galibier, is usually only opened in the last days of May, but in 2022, it was opened exceptionally early on May 18th.
In the French Alps, one of the highest passes, Col du Galibier, is usually only opened in the last days of May, but in 2022, it was opened exceptionally early on May 18th. In Italy, May would be favorable due to the ongoing Giro d'Italia, where you can also ride along the way, but you should also check the passability of the highest passes such as Passo dello Stelvio beforehand;
In Spain, you can ride for a longer period of time - just keep an eye on the weather and check the historical weather in the region you're heading to; In the Canary Islands, you can ride all year round. The Vuelta a Espana race is usually held in August or September - if you want to ride and participate, you should remember that Spain can be exceptionally hot in August.

2. How to get to the proposed starting points of cycling routes?

- A more detailed answer to this question can be found in the transportation section;
- The fastest combination is to fly to the destination and then take a bus or train to the accommodation, and rent a bike from a rental company listed there. This is recommended for short stays (2-4 days) and when the distance from the place of residence is over 1500 km, due to the high cost of renting a bike;
- Driving with your own bike is recommended for longer stays and groups of 3-4 people. For a group of four, the cost of travel per person will be lower, and it will be safer and faster to change drivers every 2-3 hours;
- Flying with your own bike, transported in a professional, safe (rigid) package, and:
     a) Renting a car at the airport (taking into account the number of people and luggage) is a fairly expensive option, but it ensures the fastest way to reach the destination and ride on your own, ideally fitting bike;
     b) Taking a train or bus for the rest of the journey, which allows you to bring your bike packed like in the plane (as special luggage);

3. How to safely transport your own bike on a plane?

- A road bike, especially a carbon one, is vulnerable to damage during air travel, so it is recommended to transport it in professional, rigid cases/suitcases; professional packaging includes transport wheels, so after leaving the airport, we can also take the bike in such a package to the train or taxi; the dimensions of one of the sample bike transport cases are: 1190 x 890 x 295 mm, which also meets the special baggage requirement on Flixbus (the sum of the baggage dimensions cannot exceed 240cm); it is possible to rent such a suitcase; in the case of a group of several people, it is worth organizing a bus in advance for transportation, both of people and their packed bikes;


4. Where can I find bike rental shops?

- In every proposed and described starting town, there is a bike rental shop. The rental shop's address, website link, and map are provided in the town's description.
- It's worth making reservations well in advance to ensure that bikes are available. Some rental shops focus on renting mountain or electric bikes and have fewer road bikes available;
most rental shops offer a lower price for half a day, so it's worth taking advantage of it on both the day of arrival and departure if you have at least 3 hours available.
- You can reserve a bike for several days in one rental shop, then travel to another region and use the services of another rental shop for the next few days.

5. Where is the best place to stay?

- It's best to find accommodation in a location where there are plenty of different routes to ride; suggestions for such places can be found on the following pages.
If you're staying for a few days, location will be important - close to a bike rental shop and a bus stop, so that you can also use your first and last days for cycling.
It's worth using well-known booking portals: booking.com and airbnb.com, paying attention to whether you can safely store your bike; if you're arriving by car, a safe parking space will also be important.

6. Where can I refill my water bottle, take a break for a meal, or use the restroom during the route?

- The description of each route includes suggestions for gastronomic points where it is worth taking a break for coffee/lunch or where you can buy a drink at a store. Some of these places have restroom facilities. However, there may be longer sections without gastronomic points or they may be closed during siesta or on a certain day of the week. In such cases, we can refill our water bottle at one of the drinking water intakes indicated in the route description. On French routes, the locations of drinking water intakes and public restrooms can also be found on the eau-cyclisme.com website. The mapy.cz website also indicates places with drinking water, but on-site information may indicate that the water is not suitable for consumption or only safe after boiling. In France, a drinking water intake is often marked with a "Eau Potable" sign - if there is no such sign, it is better not to use it. It is worth having a bottle with a filter and nutritional ingredients to dissolve in the water, and energy bars or gels to eat. Places with drinking water are also marked on the map in the ridewithgps.com service - switch to the OSM Cycle map view and zoom in to see the locations of the water intakes.

7. How to use the map on ridewithgps.com and change the units of measurement?

To use the map on ridewithgps.com and change the units of measurement, follow these steps:
- In the top left corner of the map, click on "View Full Version" or the name of the route. This will bring up the map and elevation profile on the ridewithgps.com website. The default units of measurement are miles and feet. If you want to change to metric units, click on "settings" in the top right corner of the map. This will expand a list of options, and you can change from imperial to metric. This will display distance in kilometers and elevation in meters. The map is set to RWGPS Cycle, but you can change it to 10 other terrain visualizations.
Note that on cyclingclimbs.eu, the statistics for the climb under the map and elevation profile are averaged from different sources. The terrain altitude can be inflated, especially if there is a tunnel or rock overhang on the route. GPS altitude will show the height of the mountain above the tunnel, not the road height. An example of this is the section from Col du Soulor to Col d'Aubisque. It is recommended to read the elevation profile from climbfinder.com or cyclingcols.com, but note that there may be differences in the average and maximum gradient as well as the total elevation gain. These statistics should be taken as approximations to illustrate the character of the climb.

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