THE GIANT’S SHOULDER
The Col du Grand Colombier has become a modern classic of the Tour, with steep slopes and spectacular scenery. Edward Pickering celebrates its cultural history and aesthetic splendour
In his seminal science fiction work The Blue Peril, the novelist Maurice Renard wrote of the existence of invisible, ethereal beings called the Sarvants, vastly superior to humans and living in the stratosphere, who perform experiments on human subjects. It is only after the gruesome discovery of discarded body parts in the Jura mountains, specifically in Bugay, the home of the Grand Colombier, that they are discovered, and it’s the juxtaposition of the beautiful scenery and the horror of the Sarvants’ experiments that give the tale its incongruous impact. You think nothing bad could happen in such a picturesque place. (The riders struggling to make the time cut on a steep summit finish might disagree.)
The Jura is a beautiful region: a less showy but more characterful cousin of the Alps. It’s a gently curving and forested mountain range which wraps the Swiss border and channels the Rhône towards the south of France.
The Grand Colombier is a narrow outcrop towards the southern end of the range. At 1,501m, it’s no giant, but with mountains it’s all about context, and it gains stature from its position alongside the Rhône and above the Lac de Bourget. The view of the Grand Colombier is beautiful and picturesque - a green and forested panorama. The view from it is even better - all the way to Aix-les-Bains at the other end of the lake, and the Alps beyond.
Its prominence in the local landscape belies the fact that the Tour spent over a hundred years missing it. It didn’t make its first appearance until 2012. But the race has made up for lost time - it popped up again in 2016 and 2017, and is on the 2020 route on stage 15. For the first time, there’ll be a summit finish there.
We may fool ourselves that Egan Bernal, or Thibaut Pinot, or Julian Alaphilippe is the star of the Tour. But no matter how closely the television cameras zoom in on these riders and their various theatrics (or lack thereof), the real star of the Tour these days is France itself. Spectacular landscapes, more than ever, inspire spectacular feats. Pinot, Alaphilippe et al are modern celebrities, but they are literally and figuratively standing on the shoulders of giants.
Of course, the Tour has always been inseparable from the landscape in which it takes place. But through the golden years of the race, even the most amazing backdrops - the Izoard, the Ventoux and the Tourmalet - were the location shots for epic battles which were even more spectacular than the views themselves. However, in the era of hi-definition technology and widescreen televisions, the landscape has moved front and centre in the coverage. The Grand Colombier, already a tough climb, gains currency from its beauty. The tight stack of hairpins on what is becoming the classic ascent from Culoz - les lacets (shoelaces) - are a combination of artistic, organic curves and cold, hard structural engineering.
When the 2020 Tour arrives, on stage 15 of the race, the battle for the yellow jersey may or may not be resolved. But all eyes will be on the Grand Colombier.