Linking the Ubaye valley to the upper Verdon, Col d’Allos is one of the oldest and most storied passes on the Route des Grandes Alpes, and a near-permanent fixture of the pre-war Tour de France.
A long climb with a steady gradient
From Barcelonnette, it’s 16.9 km for 1,105 m of elevation gain, averaging 6.5% with a steepest section around 11.8%. The summit sits at 2,250 m, marking the boundary between the Ubaye and the upper Verdon valley.
Nearly three decades in the Tour de France
Between 1911 and 1939, Col d’Allos barely missed a year in the Tour de France, first crossed by François Faber in 1911. It returned in 2000, first summited by Pascal Hervé, and again in 2015 on the stage to Pra-Loup won by Simon Geschke. It’s also a core leg of the Route des Grandes Alpes, whose roads date to 1860s military works linking the newly annexed Savoie and Nice to the rest of France — a historic Refuge Napoléon still stands near the top.
Getting the ride right
The gradient stays remarkably consistent throughout, without a single brutal ramp, which rewards a steady tempo more than bursts of effort.
When to go
May to October — snow can close the road well into spring at this altitude, and the pass tends to shut again with the first autumn snowfalls.
Good to know
Barcelonnette, the starting point, is the historic capital of the Ubaye valley, known for the Mexican-style villas built by emigrants who made their fortune abroad in the 19th century.
