Stages Pyreneantour 2011:

1. Col d'Isepéguy, Puerto Artesiaga, Collado de Urkiaga                      70km / 1500 vm
2. Col de Burdincutcheta, Port de Larrau                                          100 km / 3223 vm
3. Col de Saint Pierre Martin, Pic de Issabre                                     110 km / 2500 vm
4. Marie Blanque, Aubisque, Soulor                                                 100 km / 2200 vm
5. Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden                                                               78 km  / 2438 vm
6. Tourmalet, Houquette d'Ancizan, Col d'Azet, Col du Peyressourde  115 km / 3950 vm
7. Portillion, Col d'Articasgou, Mente, Port de Bales                           130 km / 3450 vm

                                                                                     -----------------------------------
                                                                                                    703 km / 19.161 vm

Ofcourse you can do a coast-to-coast tour in the Pyrenees but than always do the standard routes is a bit boring. The Pyrenees have so much more to offer. The unknown east(as we did in 2009) and west parts are so gorgeous and have so much quiet climbs to offer', we prefer to include them in our routes. 

For 2011 we put explored the west part of the Pyrenees.
With 3 new well prepared participants we had to step our game. It resulted in a wonderful tour in with we all did around 17.000 altitude meters in 6 days or in the case of Casper 19.200 in 7 days. A record, we never did so much climbs in a week.

The Pyrenees are still our favourite mountainrange  to climb. See below for some inspiration.

Find all downloadable stage-routes here.

After a night of driving from Amsterdam to the French- Spanish border we arrived after 14 hours in Saint-Etiénne-de-Baigorry. It  is a beautiful Bask village and the camping Municipal is clean, cheap and gorgeous. It is an excellent place to start our stage tour through the Pyrenees. Our  original plan was to climb the Pico de Goromakki, but a local Belgian cyclist recommended us a round-trip over the Puerto de Artesiaga.

A few years ago the spanish had paved this road specially for a cyclo in dedication to Michuel Indurain. This round trip of 85km was exactly what we needed after a night without sleep. Three medium cols we enough for us for the first day. We ended up about 20 km from Pamplona, so we really felt in the backyard of Miguel Indurain. The roundtrip contained the Col d'Isepéguy, the Puerto de Atresiaga and the Collado de Urkiaga and has in total 1800 vertical meters.  

Day two our first stage-ride. The original plan was to pass the Pic du Beillurti and go over French Spanish Border, but our local advise convinced us to do the straightforward climb to the east from St Jean Pied-a-Port. The area is called the Plateau d'Iraty and probably the most exiting ride that you can make in that area is the Iraty xtreme that is organized from the spanish side in Ochagavia. 

Leaving the Pic de Beillurti and the border road for future tours, we enjoyed the Plateau and the Col de Burdincutcheta. Because of this short cut we decided to add the Port de Larrau on day two as our desert, but the Port de Larrau turned out to be the real main course. Probably we didn't analyze the alleviation of the North Face the Larrau cause it was one of the most steepest climbs we ever did. At the end of the day the Port de Larrau almost broke the Champ, Mouse and Stok. 

We ended up north at the lovely spanish village Isaba and  we camped at the westside of the Zuriza at a wild camping site. Camping in Spain seems much more an adventure. A lot of sites are native in the middle of nature with just a stream to wash yourself. After 100 km and 3000 vertical meters that was all we needed on a beautiful day. 

The Spanish side of the Pyrenees is much more beautiful and native and we all agreed that we will be back one day for an all Pyrenean tour on the Spanish side, but for this year the routes brought us back to France. The Col du Pierre-Saint Martin we already concurred once from the heavy westside, the south side is more gently but definitely worthwhile. The decent on the Northside to Aramits is well paved, pretty save and very fast. After a lunch most of us took up the challenge to return to this hill and take the northwest side: the unknows Pic d'Issarbe. The Issarbe was very quiet, delivered beautiful views and a nice climb but  the heath in combination with the sound of streaming water were an ungoing temptation to stop for a drink. We didn't. A little van on top of the Issarbe made us go on in the hope we could beg for water. On top, almost at the end of my energy food and water we bumbed on a Bask-Cyclo organization: the Iratiko Tourra. We have to thank their lovely organization for their kindness to share their refreshments: cheese, fruits, and a lot of isotonic drinks. We really could refuel ourselves so we had some power for the last part of the Col de Soudet 3km after the Souclousse.  In our final decent to Bedous it started to rain. The pavement of the Col de Bouesou is small with a lot of stones and gravel. Going up I am sure this climb is more enjoyable than going down in the rain. Our camping site in Bedous was a grey french village that seemed deserted by anyone who could for obvious reasons. Where Bask-country is so collorfull the real french parts in the Pyrenees can be really grey.

Stage four is a classical stage. The west side of the Marie Blanque is an unexpected challenge. Steep as hell, but fortunately short.

The Aubisque is a classic and from the westside you definately have to climb ever in your life. This year we didn't pay much attention to the point that Wim van Est fell with his yellow jersey in the decent of the Aubisque (eastside) to the Soulor. There is a nice memorial stone about epical moment for Dutch cycling in the Tour de France.

The routes schedule planned to go to the Pic de Tentes, but cause of bad weather predictions we chose the westside of the Tourmalet. We didn't want to miss it. In the end it  turned out that our  change of plans were not really necessary but with the beautiful climb of Luz Ardiden we had a perfect program for the day. We prefer the westside of the Tourmalet, the eastside is perfect for downhill but as a climb completely boring. Luz Ardiden was a pleasant surprise. We expected ski-village but it was a spectacular climb with great views over the valley. We can recommend the climb to Luz.

The queen stage of our tour of 110 km and 3800 vertical meters. The Houcette d'anzican is a wonderful climb. Calm and quiet and if you can chose always to the Houcette  instead of the Col d'Aspin.

The  east side of the Col d'Azet doesn't have much to offer, instead of the amazing west side that we did in 2004. The Peyressourde is the less atractive col of the Pyrenees from both sides, but unfortunatly it is almost impossible to avoid it. 

The elevation meters fo this stage  3950 vm was paying it's toll. The next day we took a rest day in the spa's of Bagnere de Luchon.

Last day of our tour a round trip. Starting with the lovely Portillion. it brought us for a moment in Spain. Again immediate beauty. After this our route master served us an unknown climb: the Col d'Articasgou. Well it was wonderful, small, quiet, views, hairpins but the east side was an MTB downhill. Don't do this with racing bikes!!! We did it but never again. The Col du Mente from the east is nice and easy, but the final Port the Bales from the Northside is a must for every cyclist that loves quiet and challenging climbs. It was a superb finale for our Pyreneantour.