Etape de la Vuelta

14 March 2012
cicloturista

ASO organisers of Tour de France and Vuelta a España among other races, have announced the running of Etape de la Vuelta, based on the very successful format of Etape du Tour Mondovelo of Le Tour de France, the event will allow any cyclists to race 1 stage of the 2012 Vuelta a few days before the professionals do [...]

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Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava

12 March 2012
strava-challenge

I have entered the Classic Climbing Challenge from Specialized and Strava. It starts on Thursday 15th March 2012 and runs for 47 days. The Strava website describes it as: Gear up for some serious climbing to celebrate (and suffer) the Spring Classics. Riders, do you think you can climb the cumulative elevation of five Spring Classics [...]

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Val d’Azun

11 March 2012
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I went for a ride in Val dA’zun today. My original plan was to ride over Col de Spandelles and up Col du Soulor from the north, I hadn’t given it much thought and forgot that the Col du Spandells is one of the roads which are not ploughed in winter.  Even though it is the worst road surface [...]

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Tee-Shirt Competition – Paris-Nice

10 March 2012
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The Col d’Éze TT has been won by Bradley Wiggins. I have put the winning names in excel and used a random formula to select a winner. The winner is Robert Looby, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. To celebrate the arrival of spring in the Pyrenees and the Paris-Nice race we are having a competition. The prize is a Tour de France [...]

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Paris-Nice Stage 5 Onet-le-Chateau

9 March 2012
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A few photos from the start today. I have loads more, I’ll sort them over the weekend and add them here. You might like:Sunny DayToday was hot. 30°c in the shade. We ate a barbecue meal outside under the trees this evening, seren…Lavedan ValleyHere is a view of the Lavedan Valley I made this morning. It is about [...]

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Paris-Nice – Stage 4 Rodez

7 March 2012
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Paris-Nice has arrived in Region Midi-Pyrènèes. The largest region of France it was created in the 1980′s with the fast growing city of Toulouse at it’s heart. Toulouse has grown from 400,000 in 1980 to 1,400,000 today. From Saint-Savin, in the south, it is a 5 hour journey to Rodez, in the north, on the southern [...]

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Col du Tourmalet

6 March 2012
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I have had a lot of emails asking when the Col du Tourmalet will be open. The answer is not for at least 2 months yet. At the moment you can cycle up to the ski-station at Super-Bareges at 1760m, 4.5km from the summit on the western side and up to La Mongie on the [...]

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Spring

2 March 2012
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After a short but hard winter, Spring has arrived in the Pyrénées. Most of the cols are open, only the cols over 1800m remain closed. All the ski stations remain open, Hautacam will be first to close, if there is no fresh snow that will be after next weekend. I rode up Col du Tramassel [...]

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Paris-Nice Prize Money

29 February 2012
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After Le Tour de France, Paris-Nice is the most prestigious stage race in France. Along with the glory there is a modest €136,600 in prize money up for grabs. Overall individual General Classification: €120,000 Points Classification: €5,400 Best Climber Classification: €9,200 Best Young Rider Classification: €2,000 Enter our Paris Nice competition to win a Tour de France [...]

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Paris-Nice Start List

29 February 2012
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World Tour stage racing arrives in France this weekend with the 70th edition of Paris-Nice, the race to the sun, starting on Sunday. I have posted the route for Paris -Nice 2012 here last month. It is called the race to the sun for obvious reasons, starting in the north near Paris and racing for [...]

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Isard

24 February 2012
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The Isard is a wild goat native to the Pyrenees and Cantabrian mountains, they are about 80cm tall with horns of about 20cm. It is a close relation of the Alpine Chamois but is larger and has a reddish coat in winter. Almost hunted to extinction for meat and leather, they were saved by the creation of [...]

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Plateau du Cambasque

24 February 2012
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Plateau du Cambasque is 4km above Cauterets in the Pyrenees National Park. It has been used as a stage finish by Route du Sud, Tour de France and Vuelta d’Espagne. The climb starts at 450m and climbs to 1363m, 16km at 5.3%, the 5.3% is very misleading, the 3km above Cauterets are 11%. First stage win [...]

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Mur de Péguére- 2012

23 February 2012
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The Mur de Péguére will be used by Le Tour de France for the first time in 2012. Stage 14 will take the riders from Limoux to Foix in the Department of Ariége, the stage is 192km long and will cross Col du Portal, Port de Lers and Mur de Péguére. The climb of Mur de [...]

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Col du Soulor

18 February 2012
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Down here in Saint-Savin there is a very good thaw happening, last night was the first for 2 weeks without freezing. Up on the cols is a different matter with lots of snow and lots of happy skiers. I went up Col du Soulor this morning to take some photos. You might like:Cirque de TroumouseWent [...]

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All photos by Paddy Sweeney unless otherwise stated.