Port de Larrau

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Port de Larrau
Port de Larrau, top of the pass

Port de Larrau, top of the pass

Compass direction North south
Pass height 1573  m
region Department Pyrénées-Atlantiques department , France Navarre Province , Spain
Valley locations Tardets / Larrau Ochagavía
expansion D 26 NA-2011
Mountains Pyrenees
profile
Mountain scoring HC
Ø pitch 8.1% (1193 m / 15.3 km) 4.2% (803 m / 19.3 km)
Max. Incline 13% 8th %
map
Port de Larrau (France)
Port de Larrau
Coordinates 42 ° 58 '26 "  N , 0 ° 59' 35"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 58 '26 "  N , 0 ° 59' 35"  W.

The Port de Larrau ( Basque : Larraineko mendatea or Uthurzéhétako-Lépoua in the local Basque dialect Zuberoa , Spanish : Puerto de Larrau ) is a 1573 meter high mountain pass in the Central Pyrenees . It forms the transition between the former province of Soule in the French Basque Country and the Spanish Valle de Salazar . It connects the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department with the Navarre region . The top of the pass is dominated by the 2017 m high Pic d'Orhy (Basque: Orhi ).

Routing

Coming from the north, the road first leads through the valley of the Gave de Larrau , before reaching the 630 m high town of Larrau via a first steep ramp. At the end of the village, after the branching off of the D 19 leading west to Col Bagargui, the actual pass road begins . Over a length of 7.3 km it overcomes a good 700 meters in altitude up to the 1362 m high Col d'Erroymendi in front of it . It then follows the eastern slope of the Pic d'Orhy up to a height of 1424 m without any great difference in altitude. The last 1.5 km to the top of the pass are steep again and contain three hairpin bends. The Spanish side is much flatter, it is 19 km to the 758 m high valley town of Ochagavía. The upper part is 10.5 km long with a height difference of 665 meters.

Col d'Erroymendi

The Col d'Erroymendi represents a separate transition, because a road leads in a south-easterly direction over the Chakhiko Lépoua pass down into the valley of the Zitziratzéko Erréka stream , which forms a small reservoir there. The ridge of the Erroymendi is lined with a chain of shelters (→ Palombières ), which are used in October to hunt passing wood pigeons .

Tour de France

The Port de Larrau has been on the Tour de France program twice so far and, due to its steepness, is an ascent of the Hors Catégorie . On the 17th stage of the 1996 Tour de France, which led to Pamplona , the Frenchman Richard Virusque won the classification and thus consolidated his lead in the mountain classification . The attempt by the Festina team to overturn the overall ranking led by the Telekom team fell victim to the Spaniard Miguel Indurain . In his home country, of all places, he had to let the competition pull away, he lost another eight minutes to the front runners.

On the 16th stage of the 2007 Tour de France , the Spaniard Vicente Garcia Acosta was the first to reach the summit in a breakaway group, shortly before the chasing group led by the Colombian Juan Mauricio Soler .

  • View over the upper part of the pass road to the Col d'Erroymendi

  • View from the top of the pass to the northeast

  • Last meters before the pass

  • The top of the pass with the boundary stone; in the background the Pic d'Orhy

  • Col d'Erroymendi with Palombières along the ridge line

  • Col d'Erroymendi in the 2007 Tour de France

  • Tour de France 2007: The drivers Carlos Sastre , Juan Mauricio Soler and Iban Mayo just before the Col d'Erroymendi.

Web links

  1. ↑ The height indication "1585 m" on the sign refers to the boundary stone above the road