I'd never done the climb to the Granier via la Petite Montagne before and neither had Mike who lives near the foot of the climb.

A "before work" but more importantly a "before it gets too hot" tour, Almost exactly the same date as last year and same time and power, more or less.

Well not really storming but more grovelling with a time of around 16 minutes to the top. It is a very very steep climb for the first 1km.

The route stars in Bellagio on the classic Ghisallo climb. The first few km are around 14% gradient. As the road flattens a bit (everything is relative) take a right turn to San Primo.

Stresa to Alpino is around 10km with 600 meters of climbing. The section out of Stresa is somewhat steeper than the final ride along to Alpino with some hard ramps on the way.

My orginal plan had been to try and cycle up the quarry road from Candoglia but the road is guarded by a gate with security cameras.

Hot, damn Hot. It wasn't too bad to Plan Lachat but at 4k from the summit I didn't feel great. Very shakey on reaching the col and had to lie down.

This fearsome climb starts from the village of Ornavasso just north of Gravellone-Toce.

The climb from la Terrace or via the Chateau du Carré at Lumbin to St Bernard du Touvet is 7km over 635m giving an average of just over 9% but after km4 there is a 1km section at 11%.

DescriptionThe col du Galibier (2642 meters / 8668 ft) separates the French departments of the Savoie (Northern Alps) from the Hautes-Alpes (Southern Alps).