Mountain pass cycling milestones

Mountain pass cycling milestones are signposts that provide cyclists with information about their current position with regard to the summit of the mountain pass. They always provide information for cyclists going uphill. Sometimes the signs are two-sided, thereby providing information also for cyclists going downhill.

Mountain pass cycling milestones are essential for cyclists that are not familiar with the climbs. In general, they allow cyclists to schedule breaks as well as to plan food and liquid uptake. They furthermore can serve as motivational landmarks.

Local institutions invest in this cycling infrastructure to offer service to cyclists, thus promoting tourism in their region.

Mountain pass cycling milestones always carry a pictogram of a bicycle or cyclist and specify the following standard information

Additional information found in some cases includes

Typically, the signposts are placed every kilometer such that the slope corresponds to the average across the next kilometer.

Mountain pass cycling milestones have become common in many major mountain passes in the French Pyrenees and Alps. Often their design is chosen to resemble the main features of conventional French milestones, which is a white bottom and a yellow top.

The following table lists mountain passes signposted with cycling milestones, ordered by the height of the summit. If a mountain pass is not included in the table below, that does not imply that it has no cycling milestones. It can likewise mean that is not yet documented in this table.

All signs display the standard information (see above). The table specifies the precision of the slope. Additional information and emblems (if any) are explained in the column with remarks.

Mountain passes that are known not to have cycling milestones are listed in the following table. Since more and more mountain passes are being equipped with cycling milestones, the table specifies the time when a mountain pass was last seen not to have cycling milestones.

View on the last two kilometers of the Col de Peyresourde in the climb from Armenteule. On the left side of the road a mountain pass cycling milestone can be seen.

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