The most difficult cycling climbs in the world

Red Bull has compiled the world's most difficult cycling climbs

 

 

Dante's View: overlooking the gates of hell

Where: U.S.
Length: 64,8km
Maximum inclination: 13%
Slope: 1.785m
Hazards: Heat stroke and risk of death

The Valley of Death, in the United States, can not be said to be a known place for cycling. In summer, temperatures approach the 49ºC and its landscapes are named as Funeral Mountains, Diablo Golf Course or Coffin Peak ... We let you imagine why. But where in the world could you pedal, from a single run, from a level below sea level to 1.700m above?

The route starts at -85,5 meters, in Badwater Basin, a dry plain covered with salt that is also the lowest level in North America. The 25 first kilometers that lead to Dante's View are virtually flat but the following asphalt 30km have 4% drop. The higher you rise, the more the incline increases. The final kilometer reaches nothing more and nothing less than an 13%! The tour ends in a small parking lot that overlooks the valley. Hopefully when you arrive you are more alive than dead to enjoy the views.

 

Cyclists in the Valley of Death© Christian Pondella / Red Bull Content Pool

 

Khardung Pass: agony in the heights

Where: India
Length: 39km
Maximum inclination: 5%
Slope: 1.859m
Hazards: bad mountain and army trucks

Described for a long time as the highest practicable road in the world, Khardung Pass, in India, is part of the list of routes of the most hardcore cyclists. Anyone with enough courage to face this challenge will regret it at the beginning. The route starts in Leh and 39 is the kilometers that separate you from the summit. In the last 15km eye with rocks and snow.

Due to the proximity of the border with China and Pakistan, the army trucks are a common danger but they are nothing compared to what the altitude can do with you. Above the 2.400 meters, acute mountain sickness can affect many. Khardung Pass stands at twice that height and that is what makes the final kilometers a real agony.

 

Eye with altitude sickness in Khardung La© Prabhu B Doss

 

Passo dello Stelvio: the escalation of the masochists

Where: Italy
Length: From Prato, 24,3 km
Maximum inclination: 14%
Slope: 1.808m
Dangers: Psychological torture

Seen from the air, the Passo dello Stelvio is dantesque and at the same time attractive. Its height supposes that it is only open in summer and the bravest ones that face it will have to deal with rock walls. The route starts in Prato, to the north, and has 1.808m of positive slope with 48 closed curves, all numbered with stones painted at the edge of the road.

The legendary Fausto Coppi, nicknamed "Il Campionissimo", said that during the ascent he felt "as if he were going to die." It is presumable that you spend a little worse.

 

Cyclists in the Stelvio Pass© Oliver Wieser

 

Hardknott Pass: for steel minds

Where: Britain
Length: 2,6km
Maximum inclination: 33%
Slope: 315m
Hazards: Wind, rain and lambs

England may not be an Alpine nation but, as the Tour de France 2014 has shown by going through the county of Yorkshire, it has many challenges to offer. Hardknott Pass, in Lake District, is considered the most uneven and difficult climb in the country.

A fence for the sheep, just start, eat you all the speed you could have reached before. The road climbs vertiginously, with a brutal ramp. Then you have a break of several hundred meters and then a torture with more than 30% inclination. If you survive that effort you will still have 800 meters, with 20-25% inclination. The road is very exposed so it adds to that some wind and rain to spice up.

 

In England? Short but beastly© Steve Fleming

 

Mont Ventoux: for cyclists with complex of martyrs

Where: France
Length: From Bedoin, 21,8km
Maximum inclination: 11%
Elevation gain: 1.611m
Hazards: Wind, heat, duration

The Mont Ventoux is a classic and is the most fearsome of the Gallic promotions. Known as the "Giant of Provence", it has 1.912 meters of altitude and stands alone, without neighboring mountains. The climb is 21,8km and starts in Bedoin. It is a climb that will not give you a single break, with sections that regularly go around the 10% incline. You may think that this is not exceptional, but when you enter the exposed areas of the route, where there are no trees, the wind is able to pluck the horns of a bull.

Mont Ventoux is known for taking the life of the British cyclist Tom Simpson, who died in his tracks, exhausted, during the 1967 Tour, at the age of 29 years. The official cause of his death was the heat but we are sure that the brandy and amphetamines they found in his blood were of no help either.

 

Mont Ventoux: abrupt, long and difficult© AFP / Getty Images

 

Paso Internacional Los Libertadores: a view of dying

Where: Chile / Argentina
Length: 25km
Maximum inclination: 14%
Elevation gain: 1.600m
Hazards: Altitude, trucks, cold

This step, which has its own Twitter account, meanders in the Andes, between Chile and Argentina. The road climbs from the Chilean Andes and, after a perfect curve, ends at more than 3.800 meters of altitude, next to a statue of Christ the Redeemer. The 29 first curves sum 600 meters of positive height difference. The route starts at 2.800 meters of altitude, in the valley, and there are five kilometers that separate you from the immigration control point. Then, after two kilometers, the old road that leads to the summit begins.

Reaching the top is very difficult because of the altitude, the irregular road, full of rocks, and its inclination of 10%. The wind can also slow you down but if you manage to conquer this climb it will reward you with stunning views of the conlindantes valleys and the highest peak in South America, the Aconcagua. Good advice? Take some warm clothes. At 2013, 15.000 Chileans were trapped on the Argentine side of the border because of a snowstorm.

 

International Paso Los Libertadores© Pinar Pinzuti

 

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