descent isn’t steep, so once you’ve survived the wandering cattle take time to look for the quarries, from which the green marble was extracted to build the Palace of Versailles, the Opera in Paris and many other monuments all across France. Once at the bottom your are at the foot of the Col du Tourmalet.
WHICH WAY?
Arreau is on the D929 with the towns of Lannemezan to the north and San Lary-Soulan to the south. From the north turn right, and south left, onto the D918 to begin the Aspin.
The Aspin was first used in the Tour de France in 1910, so is one of the longest-serving mountains on the race. First to the top was a Frenchman, Octave Lapize.
In 1947, the first post-war Tour de France, the Breton Jean Robic laid the foundations of his eventual victory on the Col d’Aspin. A brilliant but mercurial rider, Robic dropped his breakaway companion Pierre Brambilla on the Peyresourde and climbed the Aspin alone. He stayed that way for 190 kilometres, eventually winning the stage in Pau by over ten minutes.
The points that Richard Virenque of France won for crossing the Aspin in fourth place during the 2003 Tour sealed his record-equalling sixth win in the King of the Mountains. In 2004 Virenque took the record for himself by winning a seventh mountains title.
