Col de la République

The Col de la République

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The Col de la République (also Col du grand bois ) is a 1161 m high mountain pass situated in the Mont Pilat in the Massif Central. He is the highest point in 1830 created Route nationale 82, which connects Saint- Étienne in a southeasterly direction with the Rhône Valley.

The epithet de la République is because here in 1794, a Christian sect that described himself as Jesus Christ Republic, tried to set up a small state.

Cycling

At the summit is a memorial to the cycling pioneer Paul de Vivie, who lived in Saint-Etienne and its home track led up to the Col de la République. Since 1922, the Montée du Col de la République chronométrée is named in honor of Paul de Vivie held annually in June, a width radsportliche event with up to 1,000 participants.

The Col de la République was on the second stage of the Tour de France 1903, the first mountain that had to be defeated in the history of the Tour de France from the drivers. At the Tour de France 1904, the last year's winner Maurice Garin in the rise of Saint- Étienne was attacked on the Col de la République cycling supporters assaulted who wanted to thus support the local hero Antoine Fauré. The Tour de France then led for 45 years, no longer through Col. Since 1950, however, he was again eleven times part of the route planning.