Cime de la Bonette (Jausiers) Bike Climb - PJAMM Cycling

11.9
FIETS
14.9 mi
DISTANCE
5,202 ft
GAINED
6.5 %
AVG. GRADE

FULL CLIMB STATS

Page Contributor(s): Ard Oostra, Montreux, Switzerland; Lisa Irizarry and Matthew Jiang, NY, NY.

INTRO

Often considered (incorrectly) the highest road in Europe, this is a very scenic, long, and challenging climb that is accessed both from the north (Jausiers ) and south (Saint-Etienne).  As of 2020, Cime de la Bonette has been featured in the Tour de France four times since 1962.
Average grade is 6.4% (7.1% climb only).  64% of the climb is at 5-10% grade and 8% is at 10-15%.  The steepest 500 meters is 11.5%.

See more details and tools regarding this climb's grade via the “Profile Tool” button.


Roadway:  Narrow two lane road with no center striping or shoulder in good condition.

Traffic:  Mild.

Parking;  Just before the start of the climb (Map; Street View). 
Provisions:  At the Halte 2000 Chalet Bar Restaurant at kilometer 11 on the right (Google Map + Reviews; Street View). 
Before heading out on any cycling adventure check out our Things to Bring on a Cycling Trip and use our interactive check list to ensure you don't forget anything.
Consider doing this climb along with Cime de la Bonette - Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, which is 94 kilometers gaining 3,343 meters (Map).  Also consider hiking to the Cime de la Bonette summit from the parking lot at the bike climb finish - this is 480 meters at 11.6% average grade gaining 30 meters (Map).

Use the “Routes in Area” button on the menu bar to see other bike climbs in this area. 


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Difficulty: Strenuous
3
Road
3
Traffic
5
Scenery

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Aug 18, 2023
difficulty: Strenuous
scenery: 5
traffic: 3
road: 3
Aug 18, 2023
scenery: 5
traffic: 3
road: 3
A few things combine to make this climb one of the hardest in France - it is a relatively long climb, much of it is above 2,000 meters, and it can be quite windy near the top. The gradients are not as bad as some of the other tough French climbs, but they are inconsistent in places which can make it difficult to get into a good rhythm. Save some energy for the last one way section up to the cime. This last part has some very difficult double digit gradient and there can be sand blown on to the road. It can be quite cold at the top even on a sunny day. The views are unreal on a clear day.
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CLIMB SUMMARY

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers - view looking down mountainside to roadway below, mountain ranges in the distance

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France

Ride 24 kilometers gaining 1580 meters at 6.4% average grade.

Often incorrectly considered the highest road in Europe (Pico de Veleta in Spain holds that honor, by a good stretch), this is the more challenging approach to Col de la and Cime Bonette at 23 km/1,632 m/6.9% from the, north versus 25.5 km/1,553 m/6.1% from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée to the south.  The pass itself is the third highest in Europe after Passo dello Stelvio (2760m) and Col de L’Iseran (2770m), but if we take the loop to Cime Bonette at the pass, we gain another 81m, which tops out above L’Iseran.  

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - photo collage, road sign for Route de la Bonette - Restefond, Plus Haute Route d'Europe, PJAMM CYclist riding bike on roadway, view looking down mountainside, PJAMM Cycling logo in corner

Col de la Bonette is located in the French Alps near the border with Italy.  It is located within Mercantour National Park (established 1979; 169,000 acres).

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - climb start, Jausiers, cyclist standing with bike in front of road sign for Nice, French alps

The climb begins in Jausiers (2016 pop. 1,129) in the Alpes-de-Haute Provence of southeastern France.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - views along the climb, including altitude signs, French alps, roadways snaking through hillsides, PJAMM Cycling logo in corner

This is an extremely scenic cycling experience.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - kilometer markers along the climb

KM markers along the route.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - cafe tucked along green pastures in hillside, French Alps

Halte 2000

Route du Col de Restefond

Due to its high elevation, you are likely to encounter snow near the top of this climb in the early cycling season, including June.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Stone WWII barracks in hillside on French Alps

Caserne de Restefond (WW I barracks) at 20 kilometers.

This defensive fort was constructed in 1901 and served as a rear logistics base in June 1940 during the Battle of the Alps.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - marmot on roadside, snowy hillsides beyond

There’s not a lot of wildlife in this area . . . but we did encounter one furry critter . . . 

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - altitude marker, large stone monument atop mountainside, Cime Bonette

Cime Bonette - 2862 meters.

Col de la Bonette is located 1 km below the high point of this road.  At the col, we turn right and follow the 1 km ascent of the Cime de la Bonette loop, gaining 80 m at 9% average grade.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Maritime Alps, French Alps subrange, topographical map

Cime de la Bonnet is located in the Maritime Alps, a subrange of the Alps.

Col de Bonette is part of the Route des Grandes Alpes, a tourist itinerary that begins in Thonon-les-Bains and travels over many of the most spectacular passes in France and Europe, including Col de L’Iseran, Galibier, d’Izoard, and Bonette; (alternate route includes Croix de Fer and Madeleine).  The route connects Lake Geneva to the Mediteranean Sea.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Route des Grands Alpes map

Route des Grandes Alpes.

TOUR DE FRANCE HISTORY

Col de La Bonnette has been featured four times in the Tour de France as of 2019.

1962 stage 18 -  241.5 km Juan les Pins to Briancon

The tour jumped on Cima de la Bonette just two years after the road over the summit was completed.  Stage 18 of the 1962 Tour de France began in the Mediterranean port town of Juan les Pins and ended 241.5 km later in the climbing hub of Briancon.   Surprisingly, although the stage featured three major climbs (Bonette, Col de Vars, and finally Col d’Izoard) it was Belgium sprinter Emile Daems who won the stage in a sprint over Imerio Massignan and Jacques Anquetil sat second overall :00:01:08 back of Jozef Planckaert at the end of the day (he would gain the lead two stages later and go on to win his third of a then record five TdF championships that year).

However, and fittingly, it was the great Spanish Mountain King Federico Bahamontes (The Eagle of Toledo) who was first over the inaugural ascent of Bonette, July 11, 1962, stage 18.  Bahamontes and Luis Herrera of Colombia are the only two cyclists in history to have completed the pure Grand Tour Triple Crown (KOM of the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta de Espana in the same year).  If not the top climber of all time, Bahamontes is in the top five, winning the mountain classification six times in the TdF, two in the Vuelta, and one in the Giro.  

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Frederico Bahamontes Tour de France

Federico Bahamontes was the first TdF cyclist over Col de La Bonette (1968, Stage 18).

Bahamontes was also first over Bonette in 1964, stage 9.

Photo Bettina Verbeek, Flickr

1993 Stage 11 179 km Serre Chevalier to Isola

July 15, 1998 -- Stage 11 was won by Tony Rominger with the great Miguel Indurain (five straight TdF wins 1991-1995; two Giro 1992-1993), just behind in the same time (excellent YouTube summary by Phil Liggett).

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Robert Millar Tour de France

Millar is only the second rider to lead the TdF over Col de La Bonette

Photo - Rouleur

It was all about Scotland's Robert Millar and French great Laurent Fignon on Bonette this memorable day in the TdF, for quite different reasons.  Millar took off at the beginning of the Bonette ascent in Jausiers and within a minute was 20 seconds up on climbing great Pedro Delgado.  Delgado clung for a bit, but ultimately fell off and Millar topped Col de La Bonette alone.  He led on the descent but was ultimately overtaken by the peloton and finished an exact one minute down to Rominger and Indurain in Isola at the finish of the stage.  

Laurent Fignon (1960-2010) had an illustrious Tour career (1983-1984 TdF, 1989 Giro) which came to a bittersweet end on Col de La Bonette July 15, 1993 as he dropped back from the peloton and ascended Col de La Bonette alone. In his autobiography, We Were Young and Carefree: The Autobiography of Laurent Fignon, he writes, “I can remember it very clearly.  I rode up the whole climb in last place.  Because I wanted to.  I put my hands on the top of the bars and savoured it all to the full.  I was breathing deeply as I lived through my last seconds in bike racing, which I had thought would never end for me.  This col was all mine and I didn’t want anyone to intrude” (p. 259).  Sadly, it is likely due to EPO use by the majority of his serious competitors that the honorable and clean Fignon could no longer compete, yet, he was the best of them.  Laurent Fignon died of lung cancer at the young age of 50 on August 31, 2010.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Laurent Fignon Tour de France

Laurent Fignon 1983-1984 TdF Champion.

2008 Stage 16 157 km Cuneo, Italy to Jausiers, France

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Tour de France map 2008

2008 stage 16  from St. Etienne.  This stage began in Cuneo, Italy and reached Col de la Bonette via the Italian ascent and French descent of Col de la Lombarde.  The stage ended in Jausiers when it was won by French climber Cyril Dessel in a sprint involving a group that broke away on the ascent of Bonette. Frank Schleck (LU) led the TdF by seven seconds over Austrian climber Bernhard Kohl.

While stage 16 was won by Dessel, and Schleck led at the end of the stage, this day in Tour history is more known for the spectacular crash of South African rider John Lee Augustyn at the beginning of the descent from the Cime de la Bonette loop road.  Leading the race as it crested Bonette, Augustyn spectacularly overshot a 90 degree right hand curve and flew off the road and down a steep shale embankment (YouTube Video).  Augustyn was helped back up to the road by a spectator and after checking himself and getting a replacement bike went on to finish an amazing 35th on the stage!

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - Augustyn climbs back up hillside after falling during Tour de France 

John Lee Augustyn climbing back up the hillside after his tumble.

Augustyn was only the third man ever to lead the TdF over Bonette.

Bahamontes (1962, 1964); Millar (1993)

Augustyn was forced to retire in May 2014 at the age of 30 due to hip damage sustained in a 2007 crash.   Among other things, Augustyn now promotes his own line of cycling apparel, appropriately named . . . you guessed it . . . La Bonette.

Year

Stage

Category

Start

Finish

Leader at the summit

2008

16

HC

Cuneo

Jausiers

 John-Lee Augustyn (SAF)

1993

11

HC

Serre Chevalier

Isola 2000

 Robert Millar (GBR)

1964

9

1

Briançon

Monaco

 Federico Bahamontes (ESP)

1962

18

1

Juan-les-Pins

Briançon

 Federico Bahamontes (ESP)

(Col de La Bonette)

As of 2020, the col has not been featured in the Tour de France since 2008.

Wikipedia says of Cime de la Bonette:

“Cime de la Bonette (el. 2,860 metres or 9,383 feet) is a mountain in the French Alps, near the border with Italy. It is situated within the Mercantour National Park on the border of the departments of Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, between the Ubaye Valley and the valley of the Tinée River.

"Cime" is French for "summit".

The summit is surrounded by a road from the Col de la Bonette, which reaches 2,802 metres (9,193 ft), and is the second highest paved through route in the Alps. It is also the highest point reached by the Tour de France.”

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - plaque at the top of mountain for the highest paved loop in Europe

Cima Bonette -- highest paved “through point” (loop) in Europe.

Do not be confused by “Sol de la Restefond” references along the northern and southern approaches to Cime de la Bonette:

“Col de Restefond (el. 2,680 metres (8,790 ft)) is a high mountain pass in the French Alps, near the border with Italy. It is situated on the flanks of le Restefond within the Mercantour National Park in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

The actual pass is situated on a gravel track leading off the D64 close to its summit at the Col de la Bonette (2715 m). The passage over the Col de la Bonette is often mistakenly referred to as the Col de Restefond, and in the 2008 Tour de France the summit was referred to as the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond. Stage 16 of the tour approached the summit from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (south-east), and after reaching the Col de la Bonette, took a loop round the Cime de la Bonette reaching the summit of 2802 m, which is the highest point reached by the Tour de France,[1] before re-passing the Col de la Bonette. On the descent to Jausiers, the actual Col de Restefond was passed on the right approximately 1 km from the summit,” (
Col de Restefond).

                                 

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - road sign for Bonnette from Jausiers

Road sign from Jausiers.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - road sign for Bonette from Saint Etienne

Road sign from Saint Etienne.

Cycling Cime Bonette from Jausiers, France - PJAMM Cyclist Ard Oostra stands next to monument on climb summit

Thank you to PJAMM Cycling friend and contributor Ard Oostra (CH) for his photo contributions to this page.

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