Lago di Place-Moulin
Starting from Aosta, this long ride starts in the same valley as the road to Col du Grand St. Bernard. Most of the ride is on a fairly big road, but there is not much traffic — or many hairpins. It climbs slowly through lots of little villages with nice bespoke town signs that include altitude. The climb gets interesting as it heads up after the last village, Bionaz. Here the road is built into the side of the mountain as it climbs up a tighter valley. Soon the damn is visible far in the distance. This grandiose dam, which was built between 1955 and 1965, is a true miracle of technology with a height of 155 m and a length of 678 m. It is one of the largest dams in Europe, holds 105 million cubic meters of water and is fed by a 137 km2 rainwater collection basin, 20% of which consists of glacier water. The lake covers a surface area of 176 hectares and is 143 metres deep at its deepest point. It stands at an elevation of 1,968 metres above sea level.
Region: Valle d'Aosta
City: Aosta
Distance: 28.79 km
Elevation Gain: 1300 m
Elevation Loss: 50 m
Difficulty: 964 (Hard)
FIETS Index: 5.42 FIETS
Avg Grade: 4.34 %
Max cat climb: HC
Min elevation: 716 m
Max elevation: 1965 m
Ride Category: Epic Climb