Day 14 (28/08/2014): Briançon-Jausiers (95km/2,400m ascent/2 passes/drank 8.0 litres)

passes climbed:
Col d’Izoard (2,360m); Col de Vars (2,109m)

towns passed:
Guillestre; Vars; Jausiers

doing it the “French way” 😉

It’s hard to believe, but I can actually do less than 100km in a day! But on the day before the big final, I tried to take it as easy as it is possible with 2,400m ascent and, once again, annoying headwind.

on top of Col d’Izoard (2,360m)

and my way down from Col d’Izoard towards Guillestre:

So I continued following the “Route des Grandes Alpes” towards the south from Briançon onto two more passes with over 2,000m altitude. Both quite enjoyable to cycle up to as it wasn’t too busy. And the motorbikes and camper vans that keep overtaking me slowly become well-known acquaintances. It really is the same people/vehicles all the time that I see on my ride. One I can actually identify already when they’re still behind me: a motorbike with the German number plate “HU”. Whenever they get close to me, I hear the woman on the back of the motorbike loudly talking to the man (never him talking to her, by the way…). Also funny, the Czech and Slovakian motorcyclists who pull little caravans behind their three-wheeled bikes. So you see, it never becomes boring!

on the last 2km before reaching the top of Col de Vars:

my second high point of the day: Col de Vars

And it certainly is summer now: on the day with the least kilometres I exceeded the 30 degrees for the first time. I am very, very thankful that I was mostly able to ride in “Martin-adequate” temperatures.

Now that I’m in the départment Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and saw a sign to ‘Nice’ again, I can almost smell the sea already!

I haven’t been lying: I’ll only get to the highest point of my tour at the very end – which at the same time is the highest pass road in the Alps and Europe

138km/2,117m ascent/2 passes to go!

accurate route details (incl. GPS track):
Vienna-Nice Transalp – day 14 (Briancon-Jausiers)
Start date/time: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 10:07, distance (km): 93.97, elevation (ascent in m): 2,319

all photos of the day: