Col de la Madeleine cycling climb map

by Sidney van den Boogaard

Nineteen-odd kilometres, more than 1,500 metres of climbing, close to eight per cent on average: the Madeleine from La Chambre has no tricks, but it gives you no rest either. You leave the floor of the Maurienne valley and climb past the Saint-François-Longchamp ski station to a summit sign that proudly says 2,000 metres. This is the only road over the Lauzière range to the Tarentaise, and it was only finished in 1968; the biggest race in cycling crossed it in July 1969, two days after the official opening. The reward at the top is a view of Mont Blanc. For the patient climber who loves a long, honest effort.

This work is part of the Legendary Climbs collection: the most famous climbs in road cycling, from the Alps and the Pyrenees to the short, steep hills of Flanders and Limburg. Each climb is drawn from the real road, with the elevation profile coloured per kilometre and, along the bottom, the length, elevation gain, average and maximum gradient and the summit.

The road is drawn from OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors) and the profile from Copernicus elevation data (EU-DEM). A great gift for any cyclist, to hang next to the bike or as a goal for next season.