Tour Climbs: The complete guide to every mountain stage on the Tour de France. Chris Sidwells
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wild mountain wonder.
Arcalis is a ski resort with a difference. It’s publicly owned, quite remote and it doesn’t have a purpose-built ski village with the high rises and cuckoo clock wooden chalets you find in some resorts. Andorrans are justifiably proud of it.
It is part of the Vallnord group of ski resorts that are divided into the Pal, Arsinal and Arcalis sectors, of which Arcalis is the most northerly. It has 24 kilometres of downhill and 12 kilometres of prepared ski pistes, and is very popular with ecologically switched on skiers. Nice touches in the resort include a permanent display of sculptures.
The climb starts in Ordino, where the altitude is already 1200 metres. The beginning is easy enough, climbing the Valira del Nord watercourse that flows straight out of the snows of the French border mountains. After eight kilometres you arrive at the village of El Serrat, where there is a very steep descent followed by a short stretch of ten percent climbing. Then the road starts to twist and turn to find the easiest way up the steepening mountainside as you enter the Cercle d’Arcalis where the ski slopes are located.
Keep going until the end of the road, even though the Tour stage finished just short of it. The road goes to the Port du Rat, which is an old crossing into France over which a track still passes.
If you’ve got plenty of energy left, descend to Ordino and climb the Col d’Ordino. And if you return to Ordino once more you are only two kilometres from the start of another Tour de France climb, the one up to the ski resort of Pal.
Andorra La Vella has plenty of hotels, as do the ski resorts, and with the famous climbs of the Port d’Envalira on hand, as well as the chance to explore some climbs that the Tour hasn’t visited yet, that makes the town an ideal place to stay on a visit to this tiny and remote country.
WHICH WAY?
Ordino is eight kilometres northeast of Andorra La Vella. Head for the suburb of Escaldes-Engordany and follow the CG4 north, then turn right on the CG3 to Ordino. Once there continue on this road to Arcalis.
Road into Andorra from France
Andorran mountains
Port d’Envalira
‘GATEWAY TO ANDORRA’
Length: 27.5 km
Altitude: 1407 metres
Height gain: 1378 metres
Average gradient: 5%
Maximum gradient: 7%
WHAT TO EXPECT
The Port d’Envalira isn’t a particularly hard climb, although it’s long. The road up it can get very busy with traffic, but it deserves its ranking as a major climb because it was where the first five-time winner of the Tour de France Jacques Anquetil nearly lost one of his Tours. The Frenchman was really in trouble on the Envalira, and had to dig deep into his store of courage to save the day.
The Tour de France has climbed the Port d’Envalira seven times from both the Andorran and the French sides. The first time was in 1964, when Spaniard Julio Jiménez was first to the top. I have picked the Andorran side because it was where the Anquetil incident happened and because the French side isn’t very attractive.
One things that detracts from the French side is the Pas de la Casa, a ski resort that looks like a moon base and doubles as a shopping complex. It is just over the Andorran border from France, but is on the French side if the climb. Bargain hunters flock up here to buy duty-free items, and on Saturdays in particular there is a procession of cars driving up the French side of the Envalira.
The good thing about the Pas de la Casa is that it leaves the climb from Andorra la Vella, which is the capital of Andorra, less busy than it would otherwise be, because people stop at the Pas de la Casa to buy their bargains. The climb starts in Andorra la Vella and at first it is very gentle. It starts to bite at the village of Canillo, and a few kilometres after a place called Soldeu it gets quite steep as you climb a wonderful series of lacets up to the summit.
The top part, where the lacets are, has much less traffic on it nowadays due to the opening in 2002 of the Envalira tunnel, which at nearly three kilometres in length and an altitude of 2000 metres was quite a feat to construct.
The Ariège river, which gives its name to a whole department of France, is formed just over the French side of the Envalira summit. A trickle in summer, this stream has carved out a remote valley that has long been a refuge for wildlife and for people. It’s an Ariège boast that the local population have always been free thinkers who are a long way from central government.
WHICH WAY?
Andorra sits at the bottom of the Andorran side of the Port d’Envalira on the CG2 road. The city is 47 kilometres southwest of Ax-les-Thermes on the N20, after turning right onto the N22 at the entrance to the Puymorens tunnel. This road then changes into the CG2 at the Andorran border. You can either carry on through Pas de la Casa and go over the top of the Envalira or use the Envalira tunnel