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 In the village Saint Foy Tarentaise and still good 1,000m above sea
level, we hit the actual pass road, the D902, which runs up from Bourg St. Maurice through the d'Isere valley up to the pass. Here we again hit
the hard reality. Wide road, with very high traffic the road leads us up the pass, passing the storage lake Lac du Chevril to the village Val
d'Isere. Along the lake, through several tunnels, the road becomes more narrow, nicer and follows on the left flank of the storage lake up to Isere.
This place is a classical French ski resort and during summer time it is normally almost empty and deserted. But today it’s like hell.
One day in front of the famous Tour de France, the place is bursting.
Not only due to the TV crews that install their entire equipment along the pass road, but due to uncounted cyclists that try to copy their idols
by torturing themselves up the pass. It takes us more than 20 minutes until we have passed that village, which you under normal conditions pass in 4min.
After that village, the pass road has its original begin. Everywhere along the route of the Tour de France campers go into position, setting up
folding tables and creating Sixpack beer bunkers. Everybody is totally nuts. But now, let’s focus on the entire pass road. You must ride that
road once in your life, the Col d'Iseran. It is fascinating in a special way. Simply spoken - about the panoramic view on the north flank. Back
across the city Val d'Isere and the storage lake. We are above the timber line and this side of the valley is very steep. Until you reach almost
2,500m, you have an absolutely free view down into the valley. Beyond that altitude, the road makes a right curve into a plateau for the rest of
meters up to 2,770m. This plateau with its huge gravel fields reminds of a desert. Railhead sun, reflected off bare rocks and stones. A very unfriendly area.
A significant height, looks quite different than the height on the Stelvio pass. The pass plateau is much larger spread, spacious, a huge stone
desert with an outstanding panoramic view. A hospice, a church and a war memorial and an infinite number of cyclists which are all
photographed in front of the famous road sign. The pass itself is a little plateau. All around there is nothing that is considerably higher, and so
you can look far further down the road following the valley, passing some - a bit green meadows.
 Devoutly we stand here in front of the mighty nature. Simple rugged
beauty and eerie power flows can be felt at this place. The highest paved pass in the Alps. Thin air, very strong sunlight and varied voices
from the uncountable bicyclists who meet up here every day. Traveled from all over the world, then cycled up this torturing road they meet for a chat.
No, today it is definitely not our plan to continue the tour to the south.
This would then surely be a two days tour and would take us back over the Col Cenis pass to Susa, and more on to Torino back up the Aosta
Valley. A similar tour we’ve had already done a couple of years ago during Easter vacation.
So if you want to go across the Col Iseran and then the Col Cenis, you
should plan two days and you may choose in Susa to take a right back through the tunnel and Geneva to the Valais.
We select back, after a long break, the same way across the Petite St Bernard to the Aosta valley and keep right following the very
well-developed valley main road through the valley down to the city of Aosta, where we again meet the heat of early evening. It's amazing how
the rocks heat up like a furnace and then release the heat over many hours during evening time. The breaks in the Aosta valley, although the
landscape is marvelous, become very short based on the high temperatures we still have.
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