Stage 11: Back into the Basque Region.
| Stats for Stage 11. | |||||
| Stage start/finish |
# of Mtn. passes
|
Mileage
|
Elevation gain
|
Ride time
|
|
| Arette - Osses | 4 |
86 mi. |
12149 ft. |
6.5 hrs | |
The "topo-map" view of stage 11.
Just when you think there can't be another day as radical as the previous stages, along comes another day as radical. Stage 11 is our official return to the Basque country, but this time in the high mountains. What you will come to realize is that the Basque climbs are a little bit steeper than most of the other climbs. Not by a lot, but 1 to 2 percent adds up. The Col de Bagargui, so some believe, is one of the hardest climbs of the trip. But I think that is subjective. The real concern is you don't want to have a bad day when you do the Bagargui. Ha! Sigh, it is also the 2nd to last day of the tour. Usually nobody wants it to end.
And the corresponding profile of stage 1.
The roads are very well maintained in the Pyrenees. The concern isn't the odd pothole, but rather the farm animals that wander and graze freely in the "zone pastoral" of the high mountains. Keep an eye out for them, and their droppings.
The Basque region has roads that tend to be steeper than anywhere in the Pyrenees.
