Plateau de Beille
Summit finish — 1,790 m
Show it on the map- Days recorded
- 7Grand Tour days on this road
- Open on the map
- 4stages we hold the route for
- Years covered
- 1998–2024first to most recent
- Approach
- Oneone side on record
A cross-country ski station on a high shelf above the Ariège valley, reached by one road and one road only: the D522 out of Les Cabannes, 15.9 km at 7.9% from 535 m to 1,790 m, a dead end that stops at the plateau. Every one of its seven Tour finishes has been rated hors catégorie, and for a long time the climb picked the champion — Marco Pantani in 1998, Lance Armstrong in 2002 and 2004 (both later stripped) and Alberto Contador in 2007 all won the Tour that year, before Jelle Vanendert in 2011 and Joaquim Rodríguez in 2015 broke the pattern. In 2024 Tadej Pogačar took it back, climbing almost four minutes faster than Pantani's 1998 record on his way to the title.
The climb
The climb, from the foot.
The record
Raced here
4 of 7 open on the mapEvery 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.
- 2024
Tour de France · Stage 15
Won by Tadej Pogačar
- 2015
Tour de France · Stage 12
Won by Joaquim Rodríguez
- 2011
Tour de France · Stage 14
Won by Jelle Vanendert
- 2007
Tour de France · Stage 14
Won by Alberto Contador
- 2004
Stage 13 · Lannemezan → Plateau de Beille
Won by No official winner (Armstrong, stripped)
Armstrong shed everyone but Ivan Basso on the climb and then jumped him at the line, again for a win later voided. Thomas Voeckler defended the yellow jersey he had worn since stage 5, coming off the plateau still 22 seconds ahead of Armstrong.
- 2002
Stage 12 · Lannemezan → Plateau de Beille
Won by No official winner (Armstrong, stripped)
Lance Armstrong crossed first for the second day running, having taken yellow at La Mongie the afternoon before; Roberto Heras came in at 1:03 and Joseba Beloki at 1:05. His 1999–2005 results were voided for doping in 2012, leaving the stage with no official winner.
- 1998
Stage 11 · Luchon → Plateau de Beille
Won by Marco Pantani (ITA)
The plateau's Tour debut, and that Tour's first mountain-top finish. Jan Ullrich punctured just before the foot of the climb and Pantani waited rather than attack the yellow jersey there; once Ullrich was back on, Pantani went 4 km from the line, caught the escapee Roland Meier and won. Ullrich came in eighth, nearly two minutes down, and kept the lead he would only lose a week later at Les Deux Alpes.
Often ridden with
A Grand Tour stage rarely settles for one col. Plateau de Beille has shared a day's racing with each of these roads.