Col du Mollard – small in name, big in suffering

The race begins in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne , this unassuming town in the Maurienne Valley, which has long been a shrine to the Tour de France. Heroes have started here, favorites have fallen, and every stone here reeks of epic. Those who pedal here aren't just taking off—they're joining the liturgy of the Grande Boucle.

Then the climb: over 40 hairpin bends , like an endless mantra. The gradient is gentle, steady, never grueling. But that's the trap: it pulls, it gnaws, and at some point you wonder if the road will ever stop winding along the mountain.

At the top of the Col du Mollard , last crossed by the Tour in 2015, there are no heroic views, only the knowledge: accomplished. A pass that lingers in the background but reliably collects its victims.

Abfahrt Col du Mollard - bis Speicher voll :-(

And then the descent. Steep. Fast. Every curve a dance on the razor's edge, every straight a rush – and always that ravine beside you, greedily, as if it were just waiting to swallow you whole. You race down, blinded by the speed, half in triumph, half in madness.

A mountain that doesn't need applause. It whispers. And its echo remains.