Col du Chat

Col du Chat cycling climb profile

The Col du Chat is a category 3 climb in France that rewards control more than aggression. On paper, its 9 km length and 4.68% average gradient make it look manageable, but that average matters because the maximum gradient reaches 8.38%. That spread tells you the climb is not simply a uniform drag from bottom to top. There is enough variation to punish riders who treat the early kilometres as free speed.

The climb starts at 237 m and tops out at 658 m, with a listed net elevation gain of 421 m and total ascent of 389 m. The key takeaway for pacing is that this is a moderate-length effort where the difficulty comes from accumulated load rather than one decisive wall. You can ride it well below panic mode, but only if you keep something back for the steeper ramps.

How the gradient feels

With an average just under 5%, the Col du Chat sits in that awkward zone where strong riders can be tempted to stay in a bigger gear and push. That can work for a short rise, but over 9 km it becomes a torque tax. The 8.38% maximum gradient means there are sections steep enough to force a cadence drop if you are over-geared, and that is where the climb starts taking more than it gives.

The better way to read the profile is as a rolling pressure climb. The average gradient gives you room to settle, but the steeper pitches interrupt rhythm. Those changes are important because each ramp slightly raises the cost of the effort. If you surge over every harder section, the second half becomes less about fitness and more about damage control.

Pacing and gearing

Start below your target effort, especially if you are riding by feel rather than power. A climb of this length is long enough for early enthusiasm to show up later as heavy legs. If you use power, anchor the effort around a sustainable climbing intensity rather than chasing speed on the shallower parts. For context on setting that ceiling, use /glossary/ftp as the reference point.

Practical approach:

• Keep cadence comfortable on the lower-gradient sections instead of forcing a big gear.
• Shift before the steeper ramps, not halfway through them.
• Let speed fall when the gradient rises toward the maximum rather than matching the effort with a hard acceleration.
• Save your highest sustainable output for the final part of the climb, once the repeated gradient changes have stopped taking small withdrawals.

For gearing, the safest choice is one that lets you spin through gradients above the average without grinding. The Col du Chat is not extreme by the numbers, but it is steep enough at its hardest to expose a narrow cassette or overconfident pacing. Ride it as a controlled aerobic climb with short muscular interruptions, and it becomes a steady, well-measured ascent rather than a fight to the summit.