The stats:
- Distance 21.5 km
- Ascent 1,671 m
- Average gradient 7.8%
- Max gradient 21%
‘No road quite like it’, exclaimed the announcer when the Méribel summit finish for stage 17 of the 2020 Tour de France was revealed. This savage and new climb officially opened in 2019, when combined with the Col de Madeleine just a few kilometres earlier, will surely determine who wins this year’s Tour.
Set in the Savoie region of the Northern French Alps, Méribel is a picturesque ski resort part of Les Trois Vallées, the world’s largest ski domain.
The climb starts some 21 km before in Brides de Bains, at 633m above sea level. The road ascends 1671 m in total with an average 8% gradient for the first 9km, then a gruelling maximum gradient 21% in the final kilometres.