Fist included in the 2015 Tour de France route (stage 18) it is now one of the most talked about climbs after Alpe d’Huez and the Col du Galibier. Finished in 1934 after six years of construction, the Lacets de Montvernier are an astounding feat of engineering linking the little village of Montvernier, high above on a plateau, with the main road below.

Lacets means hairpins or shoes laces in French and there are 17 of these hairpins in the first 2.5km of the climb cut into the side of the mountain. They are stacked so tightly on top of one another it is very difficult to get a good photo of them except perhaps from a helicopter. Each hairpin is approximately 150 long and the road is narrow with very sharp hairpins.

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[Average gradient: 8.0% Distance 3.7km ]