The beautiful village of Villars-sur-Ollon, halfway up the Col de la Croix, is the perfect base if you want to cycle in the Swiss Alpes Vaudoises. In winter, it is a real winter sports village, but in summer, besides cycling, you can also do some great gravel biking or mountain biking here: something for everyone. The various climbs and mountain passes around the corner ensure that you won't easily get bored of the area, and with the Spa of Les Bains de Villars just around the corner, recovering is no problem either. Cycling in Vaud is a real treat. The Tour de France in Les Alpes Vaudoises. What could possibly go wrong?
The Tour de France passes this beautiful village for a reason this year. The ninth stage heads from Aigle towards Lausanne, then through the beautiful green vineyards towards the Col des Mosses, then over the Col de la Croix. On the subsequent descent, the pros whizz through Villars, before taking on the final climb to Châtel les Portes Soleil in France via Aigle. Our local guide Alain Rumpf takes us exploring.
Four cols
We set off with a nice morning sunshine from the Villars Mountain Lodge, a simple but good hotel in the middle of Villars. The route of just under a hundred kilometres takes us over four cols: the Col de la Croix, Col du Pillon, Col des Mosses, and the Col de la Croix from the other side. A tough route with over two thousand altimeters, and a whole section from the ninth stage of the Tour de France. From the hotel it starts off nicely: the first hundreds of metres are immediately ten per cent uphill, there is no chance to take it easy. That's no bad thing: the views on the Col de la Croix are breathtaking. The open landscape gives way to the high and rocky peaks of the Alpes Vaudoises, where in some places the snow is still visible. The rugged landscape makes us feel puny at times, so impressive is it.
Brushing up
Because of the Tour de France passing through, they are also busy working on the road surface here. Bad spots in the asphalt are being repaired, and in some places whole sections of road are being renewed. Uphill this is not a problem given the slow speed, but they are obviously working on both sides of the pass so in the descent it is a matter of being careful. Although the climb will look spick and span on both sides after the works!
After descending the Col de la Croix, we arrive in Les Diablerets, a typical winter sports village that is wonderfully quiet in summer. The wind stoppers go off immediately because from this village it is soon climbing again: the Col du Pillon is the next pass we cross. From Les Diablerets, it is the shortest climb of the day at about five kilometres, and here too the views are stunning. Just before the summit, a huge waterfall looms to our right, flowing in several steps from the high peaks all the way down towards the valley. An impressive sight. The summit of the Col du Pillon is at 1547 metres, but a ski lift here allows you to go twice as high again. You then take a long ski lift up into the heights to the mountain peak Scex Rouge, at a whopping 2971 metres!
Sign sprint
The Col du Pillon is followed by a long descent. The first section is steep, but after about five kilometres it becomes false flat downhill on a wide road. This is perfect for our group to ride through. We ride head over head through the valley at over fifty per hour. Meanwhile, we try to outdo each other at every place name sign with our sprints. Despite the fact that Alain, our guide, is a real climber, he manages to win a surprising number of them. So you see: prior knowledge is not entirely unimportant on the sometimes winding roads.
After a long descent and a delicious lunch at a local bakery, we turn onto the third col of the day, the Col des Mosses. Again, one where they ride up in the ninth stage of the Tour de France as well. At 13.5 kilometres, it is quite long, but the percentage is only 4.3 per cent on average with few real outliers. In practice, the Col des Mosses is a lovely runner with some flat sections and descents in it. You can keep the pace nice and fast. Again, there are already signs along the side to point out that the Tour de France is coming by. On 10 July from eleven in the morning until quarter to four in the afternoon, this is Tour terrain.
Fatigue
Meanwhile, fatigue begins to creep in more and more. On the long mountain passes, the difference in level becomes apparent even faster. We see the lightweights riding away from us earlier and earlier. The legs struggle more and more to turn around. When we have to cross the Col de la Croix again, we ride up at our gums. Fortunately, it is a nice steady climb, allowing us to enjoy the beautiful Swiss scenery at a steady pace.
World Cycling Centre
The ninth stage of the Tour will not only go over beautiful mountain passes but also through Aigle, headquarters of the UCI. In fact, the official start will take place just about in front of the headquarters, where, in addition to offices, they have put up a whole sports complex, the World Cycling Centre. So there is a nice velodrome, a complete strength room, and also a large BMX track.
The idea of this centre is to give athletes from all over the world the chance to develop further in their sport. Naturally, not everyone qualifies for this. They are mainly athletes who do not have the chance to develop properly in their own countries, due to the lack of a cycling track, for example. There are athletes from different countries who train together here in three disciplines: cycling, track cycling and BMX. When we meet some of the athletes in the strength room, we are nonetheless impressed. For instance, world-record holder of 200 metres, Nicholas Paul, pushes away 170 kilos with one leg on the leg press.
Only laps
We ourselves also get to go on the track. Under the guidance of Mathieu, an experienced track cyclist and good teacher, we get on the track bike. After a brief explanation, we click in and soon we are riding around the top of the track at about forty per hour. Although the first time through such a steep curve still feels exciting, the adrenaline soon takes over, it's a real rush! At higher speeds, you really get pushed into the corner, which is quite steep at 47 degrees. To top it off, we also get to do a 'flying 200 metres', or one lap full throttle. Starting at the top of the last corner, you dive down to cross the start with as much speed as possible and then keep firing for a lap. Mathieu is impressed with the times: the fastest time is 13.97 seconds, good enough for over 55 km/h on average over 200 metres.
BMX
In the afternoon, we have and other unique clinic: BMX. Bicycle Moto Cross, as this branch of cycling is fully called, is hugely explosive, spectacular, and also a tad dangerous. On a small bike, the pros go at fifty per hour over a course of about 500 metres full of jumps, bowl turns and washboards. We ourselves start on a pumptrack, a kind of mini variant of a BMX track where you can practice well. In this sport, you maintain your speed not by pedalling but by pumping. With pumping, you pull your whole body including the bike up when you go up a hill. Going down, you push your whole body down. It is a way of riding where you use your whole body, which makes it harder than you expect.
When, after some training, we are also allowed on the larger BMX track, it really gets fun. From the big starting hill, we are soon riding down the first bumps at great speed. We even make some small jumps now and then! The speed combined with the technique gives a huge kick. We didn't expect to find this so cool! Tired but satisfied, after a few tough runs our helmet off. This was perhaps the most fun of the whole trip.
Versatile Vaud
The Swiss canton Vaud has surprised us immensely. From idyllic mountain lakes to beautiful old towns and a real cycling track; cycling in Vaud offers versatility! You won't easily find that anywhere else. We enjoyed fast descents, steep climbs, beautiful winding roads through vineyards and Dutch flat roads through the valley. And the gastronomy should not be forgotten either: the food and drink is delicious! Swiss wine in particular, which we hardly know in the Netherlands, is something we enjoyed almost every evening. If it were up to us, we would come back every year in Vaud. Together with the Tour de France of course!
