“Pla d’Adet” Details (Zwift Climb Portal)
Key Details
- Category: HC
- Length: 12.1 km (7.5 miles)
- Elevation Gain: 847 m (2,779‘)
- Average Gradient: 6.9%
- Country: France
- Watopia Climb Segment
- Watopia Descent Segment
- France Climb Segment
- France Descent Segment
- 5 W/kg: 35 minutes
- 4 W/kg: 43 minutes
- 3 W/kg: 55 minutes
- 2 W/kg: 80 minutes
Strava Segments
Time Estimates
Pla d’Adet was first included in the 1974 edition of the Tour de France, on a day when Mathieu van der Poel’s grandfather Raymond Poulidor climbed to victory. After appearing in various editions of the Tour, Pla d’Adet was selected as the finish for stage 14 in 2024, 50 years after its introduction!
The climb begins at Vignec, on the outskirts of Saint-Lary-Soulan, and ends at the Pla d’Adet ski resort (sometimes referred to as “Saint-Lary 1700”).
The IRL climb’s elevation matches that in Zwift, but Zwift’s segment is around 2km longer, taming its average gradient.
A bit of Pla d’Adet trivia: pro cyclist and OG Zwifter Laurens ten Dam currently holds the Strava KOM, set in the 2014 TdF.
Here’s the IRL segment:
Completed the real world stage but the heroic didn’t unlock, this was through the Tour de France climbing portal challenge button
Close Zwift and then relaunch. Same thing happened to me. Just became two short rides instead of one medium one
What a fun climb! One of the early sectors hits 32% at that little kicker. This is like Puy de Dome in reverse.
What is the reason for “taming it’s average gradient”? Why not just match the IRL segment 1-to-1?
Zwift doesn’t get their data from Strava, so you’ll basically never see a Climb Portal segment matching a Strava segment 1:1.
This segment, in particular, continues on after the Strava segment ends, and the continuing road is fairly flat. That has the effect of reducing the average gradient for the overall climb.
I did the version found within the Tour de France climb portal, after watching the Tour stage in which they ascended the climb. The real climb peaks around 15% for very short periods. The Zwift climb peaks at 27% if not >30% (not a typo) and contains several sections of >15% for a few hundred feet or more.
I’m ok with 20 feet of >20% for “switchbacks” like you find IRL, but this, as well as several other Zwift climbs, are so far from the actual ones, and so much harder than anything you see on the road, I’m not even sure what the point of having them is…