Italy to France Help

[GmanUK65]

I am busy trying to work out an estimated route for a European tour in a few years time. I've worked out Netherlands to Germany to Austria but now stuck on which way in Italy. From Italy I am planning for France, somewhere in the vicinity of Lyon. Two areas I would like to go through are Tuscany or/and Piedmont. So, I've worked out a route through Tuscany and I am stuck at Lavagna (between Pisa and Genoa). I've thought about keeping to the coast and going round the mountains and then to Lyon, but that would mean I would have to miss out Piedmont. So, the only option seems to be over the mountains to Piedmont then over the Alps (I know this may be a silly ask but, I would like to go over the alps with as little climbing as possible) . Is this possible?

[nirakaro]

Depends how purist you are. I've 'cheated' several times by taking a train up the rather over-developed Val di Susa from Turin to Bardonecchia. From there it's only a 500m climb over the col de l'Echelle to Briancon. Then you can follow the Durance south and broadly downhill, or do an 800m climb over the col de Lautaret to Grenoble. Or if you want to really wimp out, there are trains that take bikes through the Frejus tunnel, but only on Saturdays and public holidays (I checked the timetable on the station in Bardonecchia a couple of months ago).
That said, don't be intimidated by the thought of the Alps. Italy is a hilly place, and the passes over the Apennines are on a very similar scale – because they start much lower down. By the time your legs have done Tuscany, they'll handle an Alpine pass. Alpine roads are well engineered, you'll rarely climb at more than 5-6%, there's not a lot of traffic (serious transport uses the tunnels mostly), and you're not constantly upping and downing like you would in, say, the Pennines. I've climbed a thousand metres riding from Leeds to Lancaster, and, given that the day starts at several hundred metres, most Alpine passes aren't much more than that.

[honesty]

Col de Montgenèvres meant to be the lowest pass i think. Not used it before though so no idea of what its like. You can see the full list of paved passes between Italy and France here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France-Italy_border#Road_crossings

[foxyrider]

Depends how purist you are. I've 'cheated' several times by taking a train up the rather over-developed Val di Susa from Turin to Bardonecchia. From there it's only a 500m climb over the col de l'Echelle to Briancon. Then you can follow the Durance south and broadly downhill, or do an 800m climb over the col de Lautaret to Grenoble. Or if you want to really wimp out, there are trains that take bikes through the Frejus tunnel, but only on Saturdays and public holidays (I checked the timetable on the station in Bardonecchia a couple of months ago).
That said, don't be intimidated by the thought of the Alps. Italy is a hilly place, and the passes over the Apennines are on a very similar scale – because they start much lower down. By the time your legs have done Tuscany, they'll handle an Alpine pass. Alpine roads are well engineered, you'll rarely climb at more than 5-6%, there's not a lot of traffic (serious transport uses the tunnels mostly), and you're not constantly upping and downing like you would in, say, the Pennines. I've climbed a thousand metres riding from Leeds to Lancaster, and, given that the day starts at several hundred metres, most Alpine passes aren't much more than that.

+1

Certainly don't be put off by the Alps. To put things in context, I crossed the 2400m Furka a few years ago, the actual climb from where I joined it was just 674m. If you ride Holme Moss it's 375m and much steeper.

Yesterday I did a double trans Pennine and clocked up 1839m - the huge 2505m Gross Gloeckner is an 1885m climb.

When planning to cross passes just give yourself plenty of time and try to factor them in earlier in the day so you hit them fresh.

[andrew_s]

When planning to cross passes just give yourself plenty of time and try to factor them in earlier in the day so you hit them fresh.

If the weather is anything like this year, an early start will also be better because it will be cooler than an afternoon crossing.
Climbing cols is particularly sweaty because you are going slowly as well as working.