The Tour de France passes close to the Gîte most years. We are close to the world famous Col de Tourmalet where the famous statue shown in these images marks the end of an impressive climb to 2115 metres.

The Gîte lies on the same mountain that Lance Armstrong fell in the tour of 2003, this leg ended at Luz Ardiden which lies directly above us, the road passes by the end of our village. You may remember the display of sportsmanship when other riders refrained from attacking until Armstrong had recovered. He went on to win.

Many cyclists come to watch the tour but many others come throughout the summer simply to ride the famous cols and ride the same climbs as the professionals. All summer long brightly coloured cyclists may be seen making the famous climbs or hammering down them afterwards.

For the less athletic, there are of course many less challenging roads and many come on tourers to take in the view, breathe in the pure air and enjoy the sunshine.

The 2006 course has been announced and as usual it does not indicate the fine details of the course so it is impossible to predict exactly how close the tour will pass the Gîte but we believe it will pass through Luz Ardiden which is 4km from us.

The leg of interest is number 11, 13th July 2006 which starts at Tarbes and ends at Val d'Aran, the official website lists the following course details.

Tarbes 325m > Col du Tourmalet 2115m > Col d'Aspin 1489 m > Col de Peyresourde 1569m > Col de Portillon 1320m > Val d'Aran 1830m.

The Col du Tourmalet is the closest listed point, something like 15km from the Gîte but as mentioned earlier we do expect the tour to pass through Luz St Sauveur and hence it should pass within 4km of the Gîte. Please be aware that the dates and course are naturally beyond our control and we cannot make guarantees regards course or dates.

Provision For Cyclists - We plan to renovate our ski room to also serve as a secure cycle room for summer use. Our intention is to build a steel frame for hanging with locking facility. Crime is almost unheard of in these parts but we appreciate the value of professional level cycles. If this is important to you then please enquire at the time of booking to check if our work is complete.

We have a range of tools and a workshop where repairs can be made and can direct you to the nearest cycle shops for specialist attention.

We are planning to take pictures of this years tour for inclusion on this page so watch this space after July.

Please click on the yellow graphic to visit the official Tour de France website, for your convenience the leg11 profile may be accessed by clicking the following text link leg11.

In our final picture, we leave you with a view on the way up to Luz Ardiden showing only part of the winding the road that Armstrong climbed to his win here in 2003. If you follow this road down you will eventually pass by our village.

photographs © JP Vacances