On the long course of GFNY Lourdes Tourmalet, you leave Lourdes and its Sanctuary of Notre Dame de Lourdes quickly behind to tackle 60km with a series of 800m-high and 600m-high cols along the foothills of the Pyrenees.
At 60km, you begin the climb up Col de Beyrède: 11 km long, 787 m of elevation gain, a maximum steepness of 15% and topping out at 1417m.
After the descent off Col de Beyrède, you start climbing again. Now you are racing on one of the holy cycling grounds: the 2115m-high Col du Tourmalet. The climb from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan on the western side is 17.1km long and gains 1267m with an average gradient of 7.4% and a maximum of 11%.