Bocca Casèt

Overview

Bocca Casèt is an hors catégorie climb that asks a serious question of your legs: can you hold a steady effort for 25.7 km? Starting down at 59 m and topping out at 1645 m, it stacks up 1586 m of net elevation gain over a total ascent of 1535 m. The headline average is 6.17%, a figure that sounds civilised until you notice the maximum pitch spikes to 25.01% — nearly four times steeper than the mean. That gap between average and maximum is the whole story of this climb. It is long enough to reward pacing discipline and steep enough, in places, to punish anyone who ignores it.

How the Gradient Unfolds

Think of Casèt in terms of what those two numbers imply. A 6.17% average across 25.7 km is a climb you can nominally sit and spin, but a 25.01% maximum means the road is not uniform — some ramps run far above the average while gentler stretches pull the mean back down. Because the net gain (1586 m) slightly exceeds the total ascent figure (1535 m) that the profile records, the road climbs almost relentlessly, with little in the way of descending false-flat to recover on. Practically, that means the steepest ramps arrive on already-tired legs. Treat the average as a budget, not a promise: bank effort on the flatter sections so you have something left when the gradient more than triples toward that 25% wall.

Pacing Notes

Over 25.7 km, this is an FTP-limited effort, not a sprint. Ride the shallower sections just under your threshold and accept that the steepest ramps will briefly push you over it — that is unavoidable when pitches hit 25.01%. The goal is to keep those surges short and controlled rather than blowing your whole match on one wall. If you do not know your threshold number, run it through the FTP estimator before you commit to a target, then set a wattage ceiling you can defend for the better part of an hour. On a 1586 m ascent, going five percent too hard in the first third almost always costs you more than five percent in the final kilometres.

Gearing

Gear for the maximum, not the average. A climb that averages 6.17% but spikes to 25.01% will find the limits of anything too tall. A compact 34-tooth chainring paired with a 34×32 cassette is the sensible starting point for strong climbers, giving you a bailout gear for the sustained middle grades. But given a 25.01% pitch arriving after 20-plus kilometres of climbing, most riders will be far happier with 34×34 — that extra sprocket is the difference between spinning over the steepest ramp and grinding to a walk. If your setup allows anything easier still, this is the climb to use it on.

Summary

Bocca Casèt is a patience climb with a sting in the tail: two-thirds of an hour or more of steady work, then ramps that spike to 25.01%. Pace it by your threshold, gear it for the walls, and respect the full 1586 m of gain from bottom to top.

Length: 25.7 km
Average gradient: 6.17%
Max gradient: 25.01%
Start: 59 m
Summit: 1645 m
Net gain: 1586 m
Total ascent: 1535 m
Category: HC