Race Atlas
Famous roadAlps (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence/Alpes-Maritimes), France

Col de la Bonette

Mountain pass — 2,802 m, highest road in the Tour

Show it on the map
Days recorded
5Grand Tour days on this road
Open on the map
2stages we hold the route for
Years covered
1962–2024first to most recent
Sides raced
2directions in the record

The pass itself sits at 2,715 m, but a loop road around the Cime above it carries the race to 2,802 m — the highest point the Tour has ever reached. Climbed from Jausiers in the north or Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée in the south, it has been used only a handful of times since 1962.

The record

Raced here

2 of 5 open on the map

Every Grand Tour day recorded on this road, newest first. The ones we hold the route for open on the map with that stage selected; the rest are the archive’s own account, most of them from before route data existed.

  1. 2024

    Tour de France · Stage 19

    Won by Tadej Pogačar

    Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (south)

    The Bonette returned after 16 years as the roof of the Tour, and Richard Carapaz led the break over the top to claim the polka-dot jersey. Pogačar waited for the final climb, attacked 10 km from Isola 2000 and won by 21 seconds, hammering another nail into the 2024 race on his way to the Giro–Tour double.

  2. 2008

    Tour de France · Stage 16

    Won by Cyril Dessel

    Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (south)

    South African John-Lee Augustyn crested the Bonette first, then overshot a corner on the descent and slid down the scree slope — he climbed back up and finished the stage. Dessel won in Jausiers.

  3. 1993

    Stage 11 · first to the top: Robert Millar (GBR)

  4. 1964

    Stage 9 · first to the top: Federico Bahamontes (ESP)

  5. 1962

    Stage 18 · Briançon → Aix-les-Bains

    Won by Federico Bahamontes (ESP)

    The 'Eagle of Toledo' led over the Bonette on its Tour debut, doing what he did best: crossing the highest point of the race first.

Often ridden with

A Grand Tour stage rarely settles for one col. Col de la Bonette has shared a day's racing with each of these roads.