Cycling Paris to Pisa via Alps
- Thread starter walte90
- Start date
some people recommend http://www.mapmyride.com/ , it looks like a nice tool however i dont have experience with it, Google earth is great too, and there is also Google maps,
before going into detailed routes you need to decide where / if are you going to traverse the Alps, or the Jura Mountains.
Route 1 (Alps) recommendation would be: Paris to Grenoble + Grenoble to Briançon + Briançon to either Col d'Izoard (mythical Tour de France mountain pass) or Sestriere (Italian Ski station also used in the Tour de France) + follow the coast line in Italy until Pisa
Route 2 (Jura Mountains) would be: Paris to Besançon + Besançon into Neuchâtel canton in Switzerland + various options through Switzerland into Milan Italy + Milan to Pisa either following the coast or through center mainland,
(im just naming these cities as direction references, in between them there are a lot of other cities and routes to cover)
of course there are more options, but these ones offer you a good idea of the difficulty of the terrains you might encounter, all these countries are also quite different from one another,
before going into detailed routes you need to decide where / if are you going to traverse the Alps, or the Jura Mountains.
Route 1 (Alps) recommendation would be: Paris to Grenoble + Grenoble to Briançon + Briançon to either Col d'Izoard (mythical Tour de France mountain pass) or Sestriere (Italian Ski station also used in the Tour de France) + follow the coast line in Italy until Pisa
Route 2 (Jura Mountains) would be: Paris to Besançon + Besançon into Neuchâtel canton in Switzerland + various options through Switzerland into Milan Italy + Milan to Pisa either following the coast or through center mainland,
(im just naming these cities as direction references, in between them there are a lot of other cities and routes to cover)
of course there are more options, but these ones offer you a good idea of the difficulty of the terrains you might encounter, all these countries are also quite different from one another,
ok brave choice !
After you climb the Izoard mountain pass (2360 meters !) you are not in Italy yet, follow the D902 road after the climb then turn left into the D947 road, the right into the D5 road and finally left again into the D205 until the french italian border, which is the
Colle Dell Agnello (2738 meters !)
p.s. Grenoble to Briançon is a continous raising false flat, during the first 80 kilometers (from 107 kilometers total), going from 200 meters to 2000 meters (Col du Lauteret)
Arriving to Briançon, good place for a rest day, you will know better if you can challenge the Izoard route. If you decide not to, no problem because you have alternatives, at least two, one going around the Izoard in direction to Embrun and the other by Sestriere or Oulx in direction to Turin.
remember that these roads (the ones with mountain passes) are not open year round, because of snow,
After you climb the Izoard mountain pass (2360 meters !) you are not in Italy yet, follow the D902 road after the climb then turn left into the D947 road, the right into the D5 road and finally left again into the D205 until the french italian border, which is the
Colle Dell Agnello (2738 meters !)
p.s. Grenoble to Briançon is a continous raising false flat, during the first 80 kilometers (from 107 kilometers total), going from 200 meters to 2000 meters (Col du Lauteret)
Arriving to Briançon, good place for a rest day, you will know better if you can challenge the Izoard route. If you decide not to, no problem because you have alternatives, at least two, one going around the Izoard in direction to Embrun and the other by Sestriere or Oulx in direction to Turin.
remember that these roads (the ones with mountain passes) are not open year round, because of snow,
We will be touring around the end of may so would have to look at road availability, nearer the time. After cycling the Izoard mountain pass Is there any routes to by-pass the Colle Dell Agnello? As we are only amateur riders and only have 8 continuous days to complete this in. We want to do a mountain pass or are we pushing are luck? If we decide not to challenge the Izoard route is the other route still as challenging? It may sound daft but we don't exactly want to take the easiest route.
wow 8 dias for this trip is barely enough, we are talking here about 1000 kilometers from Paris to Pisa...
you might want to add a couple of days considering that there are always unexpected potential problems that can slow you down,
anyway you will have enough Alpes to enjoy, just about 20 to 30 kilometers after leaving Grenoble you enter the Alpes valleys right into the High Alps region in France, you will even cross by the start of Alpe D´Huez (by Bourg d'Oisan). It is a breathtaking valley and Briançon a unique old Mountain-City.
The Sestriere ski-station option is less brutal than the Izoard and is also kind of mythical. Claudio Chiappucci, the italian climber, won in 1992 at Sestriere an Alpean stage of the Tour de France with a 200 kilometers breakaway in front of Miguel Indurain. Sestriere is also the place where Lance Armstrong won his first climbing stage and later on the Tour in 1999.
The route would be Briançon - Mont Genevre Climb (not too difficult) - Sestriere (also accesible kind of climb) and the good news, after Sestriere is all downhill until Pinerolo on your way out of the Alps.
After the Izoard there are routes to by-pass the Colle Dell Agnello but i don't know if they are any easier, my guess is that you will enter from one mountain valley to another mountain valley before you can cross into Italy and away from the Alps,
you might want to add a couple of days considering that there are always unexpected potential problems that can slow you down,
anyway you will have enough Alpes to enjoy, just about 20 to 30 kilometers after leaving Grenoble you enter the Alpes valleys right into the High Alps region in France, you will even cross by the start of Alpe D´Huez (by Bourg d'Oisan). It is a breathtaking valley and Briançon a unique old Mountain-City.
The Sestriere ski-station option is less brutal than the Izoard and is also kind of mythical. Claudio Chiappucci, the italian climber, won in 1992 at Sestriere an Alpean stage of the Tour de France with a 200 kilometers breakaway in front of Miguel Indurain. Sestriere is also the place where Lance Armstrong won his first climbing stage and later on the Tour in 1999.
The route would be Briançon - Mont Genevre Climb (not too difficult) - Sestriere (also accesible kind of climb) and the good news, after Sestriere is all downhill until Pinerolo on your way out of the Alps.
After the Izoard there are routes to by-pass the Colle Dell Agnello but i don't know if they are any easier, my guess is that you will enter from one mountain valley to another mountain valley before you can cross into Italy and away from the Alps,
I think we will be giving ourselves an extra day incase of bad weather, etc. But ideally we want to be doing it in 8. Thanks alot for all the information on different routes, will study both routes from Briancon in full and will let you know what we decide. Would love to take the izoard pass, but because of the amount of days the Mont Genevre Climb sounds the most sensible. Still, looks amazing from the pictures I've google'd though!
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