hors categorie

• hors catégorie

Borrowed from French hors catégorie (literally “beyond category”).

hors categorie (plural hors categories)

1. (cycling) The toughest category of climbs, tougher than category 1. One of six categories of climbs, HC, 1, 2, 3, 4, and not classified; not classified being the easiest.

   Synonyms: (abbreviation) HC, S

   • 2005 June 28, Max Wooldridge, “Stages fright”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Ahead of me was the legendary Col de Tourmalet—at 2115m, the highest road pass in the Pyrenees and a stalwart in Tour de France history. It's even classed as an hors-catégorie (out-of-category) climb because it's such a killer. This was a mountain that even professional cyclists are wary of.

   • 2010 July 18, Richard Williams, “Tour de France 2010: Home rider Christophe Riblon celebrates big day”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     This was a victory in the grand style, the reward for a heroic escape on the slopes of a vicious mountain pass rated hors-catégorie.

   • 2025 August 2, Jessica Hopkins, “Tour de France Femmes: Pauline Ferrand-Prevot dominates queen stage to take yellow before final day”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Ferrand-Prevot dropped favourite climber Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) with 8.5km to go on the Hors Categorie — the hardest category — climb Col de la Madeleine, eventually joining and overtaking Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) and Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) to win by a minute and 45 seconds.