Col de la Pierre Plantée

Col de la Pierre Plantée cycling climb profile

Col de la Pierre Plantée is a long, controlled category 2 climb rather than a short threshold brawl. The headline numbers tell the story: 14.5 km, 654 m of net elevation gain, and an average gradient of 4.51%. That average is moderate, but the climb still demands respect because the duration is the main load. Ride it too hard early and the back half becomes a slow bleed of cadence and power.

The start sits at 722 m and the summit at 1376 m, with 660 m of total ascent. The narrow gap between net gain and total ascent suggests a climb that trends consistently uphill, without meaningful downhill recovery built into the profile. In practical terms, this is the kind of ascent where rhythm matters more than aggression. You are rarely being forced into survival mode by the average gradient, but you are also not being handed many chances to reset.

How the gradient rides

At 4.51% average, most of the climb should feel aerobic if paced correctly. The danger is psychological: a grade like this invites you to push slightly above sustainable power because it does not feel steep enough to punish you immediately. Over 14.5 km, that is exactly how a steady climb becomes harder than it looks on paper.

The maximum gradient of 10.19% changes the gearing equation. Even if the climb is broadly steady, there are ramps steep enough to break momentum if you are overgeared or already riding too close to your limit. Those steeper pitches should be treated as short cost spikes, not moments to prove fitness.

Pacing and gearing notes

Settle early at a pace you could hold without bargaining with yourself. For riders using power, this is a climb to anchor around sustainable climbing output, not repeated surges above /glossary/ftp. If you are riding by feel, the effort should sit in that controlled zone where breathing is firm but not ragged.

Gearing should leave a genuine bailout option for the 10.19% maximum gradient. A compact or climbing-friendly setup is not about the average gradient here, it is about protecting cadence when the road briefly bites. Spinning through the steeper sections and returning to rhythm afterward will usually beat forcing a big gear and carrying fatigue into the next kilometre.

The smart ride is simple: start composed, keep the pressure even, avoid chasing speed on the gentler gradients, and save enough range - both muscular and mechanical - for the steepest ramps near the limit of the profile.