Where is the Camins d’Hèr - CDH decided?
On the last two climbs, out of Arties past Stet Escunhau to Tuc de Meddia, and on the long drop from there to the finish in Vielha. About a fifth of the course climbs steeply and as much descends steeply; the end holds both the steepest of the big climbs and the biggest descent.
Arties comes after the very steep descent from Mont-Romies, 710 m down. From there the course turns straight back uphill. Per kilometre, no leg costs more than the one from Arties to Stet Escunhau, close to one and a half times the course’s average. It holds the steepest of the big climbs: 554 m at 22 %. At the time-limit pace you reach Arties at half past five on Saturday morning, as the night ends.
At Stet Escunhau the ground gives no let-up. A second climb starts at once, 548 m and steep, up to Tuc de Meddia. The biggest descent of the course follows, 1,243 m at a very steep average, all the way down into Vielha. With a time limit of 28 hours, at an even pace that uses all of it you leave Stet Escunhau at half past seven and finish at ten on Saturday morning.
The first half has its own hard stretch. Between Ref. Era Honeria and Còth de Varradòs the course climbs 1,562 m, and no leg takes a bigger share of the effort; the first quarter of the work is done along it. The biggest climb of the race sits on this leg, very steep, up to Mines de Liat. At the time-limit pace it runs from half past nine on Friday morning to twenty past two in the afternoon.
Eleven aid stations stand between LES and Vielha. The longest leg comes after Còth de Varradòs: 17.9 km to Montgarri, over Pòrt d’Urets and down a steep descent beyond it. From Beret the ground relents, and the leg down to Salardu is barely harder than the flat. Just over half the effort is done there, at twenty past nine on Friday evening at the time-limit pace; Banhs de Tredòs, Colomers and Mont-Romies follow in the night. The page shows no cut-off before the finish, only the time limit: the organiser’s cut-offs belong to another edition.
Organiser's distances and heights; Pendio's shares and clock.