Cycling in the Pyrenees: bike riding traveller’s guide

Resident Peter Cossins shares insider tips to making the most of the climber's playground

The Col du Tourmalet (Chris Catchpole)

(Image credit: chris catchpole)

Peter Cossins lives on the French side of the Pyrenees mountains. He's currently crowdfunding to publish a book on the area A Cyclist's Guide to the Mountains: The Pyrenees, and also has a guide to racing tips and tricks out in June called Full Gas: How to Win a Bike Race – Tactics from Inside the Peloton

After he’d won the 2004 Giro d’Italia title, Damiano Cunego switched his focus to the Tour de France, figuring that if he could thrive on the climbs in his home country he could impress just as much on those in the sport’s biggest race. What Cunego hadn’t counted on, though, was the Pyrenees, which he later described as “not like any mountains I’ve climbed before.” He further explained: “It’s hot, humid and the climbs are harder mentally than they are physically… The Pyrenees are like nothing I’ve seen or climbed before.”

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Peter Cossins has been writing about professional cycling since 1993, with his reporting appearing in numerous publications and websites including Cycling WeeklyCycle Sport and Procycling - which he edited from 2006 to 2009. Peter is the author of several books on cycling - The Monuments, his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, followed in 2015 by Alpe d’Huez, an appraisal of cycling’s greatest climb. Yellow Jersey - his celebration of the iconic Tour de France winner's jersey won the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year Award.