Col de CastillonCat 2
- 6.79 km
- Length
- 5.2%
- Average
- 350 m
- Elevation gain
- 6.2%
- Steepest 500 m
- 704 m(GPX)
- Summit
Castillon is the most even climb we have on the Riviera. It starts at four per cent and stiffens a little with each kilometre, but it never gets properly steep. There are no surprises here, and you can stay in the same gear almost the whole way. There is also very little traffic. The main road between Sospel and Menton runs through a tunnel under the pass, so the old road over the top is used mostly by people who want to go over it. Fill your bottles in Sospel before you start, because there is nothing between the village and the top, and nothing on the descent to Menton either.
How long will Col de Castillon take you?
A rider at 3.0 W/kg takes about 27 minutes to climb Col de Castillon.
Put in your weight and the average power you hold on the gradient. We add 9 kg for bike and kit. The model works the time out from physics, and it has been tested against real rides.
Riders
The road
Castillon is the last pass on the Route des Grandes Alpes. The great Alpine road starts at Lake Geneva and ends in Menton, and this is where it comes down to the Mediterranean.
The Tour de France has crossed the pass 27 times. The first was in 1911, and then almost every year through the interwar period. The last was in 1952, so it is over seventy years since the race came this way.
Today the main road between Sospel and Menton runs through a tunnel under the pass. The old road over the top is still there, and that is the one you ride.
The climb
It starts quietly out of Sospel. The first kilometre is the shallowest on the whole climb, and you have time to find your rhythm before it stiffens.
After that the gradient rises steadily through the opening kilometres. From halfway up it sits just under six per cent, and that is all the variation the climb has. Find a gear that suits you early and you can stay in it all the way to the top.
The landscape is open. There is Mediterranean scrub along the road and little shade, so on a warm day there is nowhere to hide. The valley opens out behind you as you climb.
There is no finale. The top arrives without a last ramp.