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Region: French Alps
Climbing effort: 539 cep
Elevation meters: 697
Steepest kilometer: 9.5%

Steepest 250 m: 11%
Foot: 620 m    Top: 1306 m
Mean slope: 6.8%
Length: 10.1 km

From: Saint-Juliën-Mont-Denis
Road conditions (2025): average
Other race bikers: 0-1 per hour
Motor vehicles: <10 per hour
Scenery and road: (2/5)
Restaurant or bar near top: no

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Other climbs French Alps

There are two ways to ride up to the so-called “Col du Sapey”, although this generally used designation is actually not correct. A col (French for mountain pass) is the lowest point of a ridge where a road or path crosses the crest. The “Col du Sapey”, however, does not lie on a ridge. It is nothing more than the highest point of the road. The alternative name “Montée du Sapey” (French for ascent) would therefore be more accurate.

Both climbs to the Sapey start in the Arve valley. The route described here starts in St-Julien-Mont-Denis and in my opinion is less appealing than the variant from Hermillon, both from a sporting and a scenic point of view. For most of the ascent the road winds its way up a steep mountainside by means of hairpin bends. Doe to the sparse vegetation the immediate surroundings of the road are not particularly attractive, but there are wide, expansive views of the Arve valley with Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and of the mountains beyond. I found the final part of the route, which runs through forest, more pleasant. From the “col”, the view is magnificent. The road climbs almost everywhere at 6–8%, but there are also two sections of 250 metres at 11%.