Cycling final five kilometers to Col de Vars was absolute purgatory. Who on earth decided to put this mountain here? At first glance, this was supposed to be a highly relaxing, recovery day of cycling. At least, that’s what everything in the morning pointed to. But it wasn’t. Not even close.
Cycling Col de Vars
We climbed at our own pace. Everyone fighting their own silent battle against the incline.
🟡 Tour de France Showcase
The Purgatory of Vars and the Era of Steel Giants
Col de Vars (2,108 m) is one of the oldest alpine pillars of the Tour de France. While the overall average gradient looks harmless on paper, the final 5 km features sudden ramps reaching 10-12% that regularly rip the pro peloton to shreds.
- Tour de France Appearances: The race has scaled this high-altitude pass 36 times in total (debuting in 1922, with the most recent crossing in 2024).
- Flip-Flop Hubs (The 1930s Era): When riders tackled Col de Vars during the 1935 Tour (the exact year of our discovered vintage bike), mechanical derailleurs were strictly banned by Tour organizer Henri Desgrange. To change gears, a rider had to stop at the base of the climb, loosen the rear wing nuts, remove the wheel, flip it around to use the cog on the opposite side of the hub, retighten the wheel, adjust the chain tension, and set off again.
- Why Wooden Rims? In the 1930s, pros used wooden rims for heavy mountain stages. Aluminum rims heated up so rapidly under heavy braking on steep descents like Col de Vars that the heat would melt the glue holding the tubular tires to the rim, causing them to roll off with catastrophic results. Wood did not conduct heat, making it the safest choice for alpine downhills.
The Silent Assassin
Endless, brutal climbs. Who on earth put this hill here?
On paper, Col de Vars looks like an unassuming, semi-leisurely climb. After all, you only need to gain about 1,150 meters of elevation over a span of 24 km. But what the profile maps don’t tell you is that 19 km of those planned 24 are practically flat.
And then? Then the road suddenly tilts skyward, kicking up past 10%, and it doesn’t relent for a single meter or a split second.
During our trip, we endured two massive storms and two major landslides connected to massive soil washouts on this pass.
It’s All in Your Head
Just one kilometer into the steep section, your brain starts working overtime, generating highly creative excuses to stop: Stop because this is irresponsible… Stop because you have nothing left… Look at that beautiful scenery (the lake, the mountain, the forest, the cliffs)… It doesn’t matter what the excuse is, as long as you put your foot down.
But you know you can’t stop. You have three excellent reasons to keep turning the pedals:
- The others will see you, and the shame is unbearable.
- If you stop on a 12% ramp while clipped into road pedals, you will never manage to start riding again.
- If you stop once, you will stop again and again, and you will never reach the summit.
As you push through the pain, the big existential questions return: Am I completely out of my mind? Why am I voluntarily doing this? Do I really need this in my life? What am I trying to prove up here? Let me tell you, winning that mental battle was not easy.
I remember exactly the expression on my face as I crested the summit. Nearly everyone finishing had the same half-grinning, half-maniacal look plastered across their sweaty faces. Long live Col de Vars!
Once at the top, it’s time for a hot coffee. But what a disappointment. To this day, I cannot comprehend how you can get a phenomenal, rich espresso for €1 anywhere in Italy, yet in France, they charge you €3 for a lukewarm cup of dishwater that barely resembles coffee. Ah, golden Italy, how we miss you.
A Rare Treasure Discovered in Barcelonnette
On the way down, disaster struck. I snapped a spoke in my rear wheel. The result? A bonus 3X20 km time trial shuttling between local bike shops in Barcelonnette and Jausiers.
While I didn’t manage to source the exact spoke I needed, the trip led me to discover an absolute masterpiece.
Tucked away in a local shop was an original, fully authentic Tour de France racing bike from 1935. This very machine was used to race the grueling mountain stages of the Tour de France back in the day. And it won.
It features:
- Wooden rims that required specialized glue to hold the tubular tires.
- A hanging gas lamp that the rider mounted to the handlebars only when riding through the night.
- An ingenious, rustic mechanical shifting system that sits lightyears away from modern electronic Shimano Dura-Ace or Campagnolo Super Record groupsets.
How on earth did those early pioneers manage to climb these vertical alpine walls on these heavy steel frames with gear ratios that would make a modern cyclist weep?
It is a rare, authentic piece of sports history that you don’t see every day. You can’t help but stare in absolute admiration.
It was yet another beautiful, grueling, and utterly memorable day in the French Alps.
