The latest footage from the Col Collective sees a first visit to Switzerland, where Mike Cotty scales the Col du Sanetsch. The video is dedicated to Mike Hall, the British ultracyclist who was killed while participating in the Indian-Pacific Wheel Race earlier this year.
Cotty is joined by local expert Alain Rumpf from the Grand Tours Project on a 33km journey from Sion to the 2,253m summit and then beyond to the Lac du Sanetsch.
The climb, which Cotty calls “one of the country’s best-kept secrets”, delivers 1,745m of vertical gain, averaging 6% with a max gradient of 16%.
The early part rises through vineyards and residential areas, but following a short downhill through a tunnel the scenery starts to look a lot more remote.
Rumpf says the road is not particularly well-known by cyclists because ‘on paper’ it’s a dead end. He points out that a great benefit of this is the relative dearth of traffic – and surely no-one would suggest that the views wouldn’t warrant the return leg.
However, it turns out there’s a way to do a loop anyway as you can descend to the valley by cable car.
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