ROUTE DES GRANDES ALPES

IT IS THE EPITOME OF ALPINE HIGHWAYS: THE ROUTE DES GRANDES ALPES TRAVERSES 16 PASSES ON ITS WAY FROM LAKE GENEVA TO THE CÔTE D’AZUR. A DREAM FOR AMBITIOUS CYCLISTS AND MOTORISTS WHO ARE NOT IN A HURRY.

The Route des Grandes Alpes is the epitome of Alpine roads. Over a distance of 680 kilometers from Lake Geneva to the Côte d’Azur it traverses a total of 16 Alpine passes. The Route owes its origins to the “Touring Club de France” founded in the year 1890 to promote bicycle touring. It was in 1909 that Vice President Léon Auscher put forward his idea to link the principal centers of the French Alps with a route that would open up the area for tourists. In July each year the Route des Grandes Alpes becomes the focus of worldwide attention as the ascents through the high Alps present one of the toughest challenges of the Tour de France. The climb to the 2,645-meter high Col du Galibier (pictured here) is a prime example. Here the riders pass a memorial to Henri Desgrange, the founder of the Tour, who included the pass in his schedule 99 years ago with the words: “Compared with the Galibier, all the rest are just ordinary little hills. One cannot but respect the Galibier.” But the Route des Grandes Alpes is also a byword for beauty and recreation: It is probably the most curve-filled route through the Alps to the Mediterranean, and certainly the most spectacular. It is passable from June to mid-October, not just for cyclists, but also for motorists who are not in a hurry.

Text: Barbara Bollwahn, Photo: Tim de Waele
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2010