Col du Galibier – Valloire

The Col du Galibier is a mountain pass in the French Alps It connects Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne and Briançon via the Col du Télégraphe to the north and the Col du Lautaret to the south. The pass is closed in winter. The ridge that the Col du Galibier is part of forms a link between the Massif des Arves and Massif des Cerces.

The mountain pass is best known for cycling stages in the Tour de France. There is also a monument on the Galibier in memory of Henri Desgrange, the first director of the Tour de France.

Because the Galibier can only be reached after the Col du Télégraphe or the Col du Lautaret have been conquered, this makes this mountain pass one of the toughest Alpine passes in cycling history.

In 2013, the Galibier was climbed during the fifteenth stage of the Tour of Italy. Due to poor weather conditions, the stage was shortened to 4.2 kilometers below the summit of the col. The finish was at the monument to Marco Pantani. Italian Giovanni Visconti won the stage. Wikipedia