Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez is a mountain in the French Alps with an altitude of 1850 m. The existing ski resort on said mountain began to be built in 1930. In 1936, the first mechanical ski lift was installed. Alpe d'Huez owes much of its fame to its relationship with the Tour de France cycling race.

Tour de France

History

Alpe d'Huez is one of the most famous stage finishes of the French round. It appeared on the Grande Boucle route for the first time in 1952, with the victory of the Italian Fausto Coppi and, although it was not climbed again until the 1976 Tour, since then it has been present on the route of the race almost every year. Since the '95 edition it seems that the frequency that the organizers have chosen to include it in the tour is one year yes, one year no, except for 2003 and 2004, included on both occasions, changing your sequence from odd to even years.

Its importance in the development of the race increased with each new edition, to the point that, for some years, the maxim was famous: 'Whoever comes out of the Alpe d'Huez in yellow', wins the Tour de France". However, after the Tours of '87 and '89, when neither Pedro Delgado nor Laurent Fignon could take the final victory in the general classification after having left Alpe d'Huez leaders, it was said that in addition to leaving Alpe d'Huez leader d'Huez, we had to win a time trial.

It is worth remembering that the Alpe d'Huez saw the first victory of a Latin American cyclist in its entire history, since in 1984 Lucho Herrera would achieve his first victory in the Tour de France, thus becoming the first Colombian cyclist and Latin American to achieve a stage victory.

The climb

The ascent begins on the outskirts of the town of Bourg-d'Oisans. The route taken in the race is (almost) always the same, despite the fact that the last kilometers run through the town, which would allow, in theory, to make certain variations and despite the fact that there is another route to the station that leaves from the main road about 5 kilometers from the finish line, yes, with less well-maintained asphalt and more hostile terrain for the presence of the public.

Without a doubt, the characteristic that has made this climb most famous, in addition to its toughness, are the 21 horseshoe curves, numbered in descending order from the base to the top and on whose signs, which announce the number of the curve, you can also read and in chronological order, the name of one of the winners at the top of the Alpe d'Huez. After the dispute of the 2003 edition, the number of winners in the Alpe d'Huez exceeded the number of curves, so it was decided to add one more name to each curve, starting again with 21 again.

Another peculiarity of these curves is that, in themselves, they have almost no slope, with the most complicated points being found just at the exit of them, where the road steepens abruptly again. This peculiarity constitutes a double-edged sword for the clicker or cyclist because, although it provides only 2 or 3 seconds of respite, it considerably alters the pedaling cadence.

The total gradient that is overcome is 1073 m and a length of 13.1 km, with an average slope of 8.2% and a maximum slope of 11.5%.

• Kilometer 1: Per percentage is the hardest of the whole climb, with an average slope of 10.5%, although most of it is 11%. It starts on the outskirts of Bourg-d'Oisans, just before crossing a small bridge over the Romanche River. Then it turns to the left and is at that moment where the ascension really begins. In this kilometer the curve is framed, to which the stone wall is reached to the right.

• Kilometers 2 and 3: The serpent begins. Three curves, 20, 19 and 18 and a total gap of 9.4%. The vegetation remains abundant and the environment never becomes axisizing at all. At kilometer 3, the population of La Garde is 930 metres high. Here are the curves 17 and 16, being the total percentage of the kilometer of 8.4%

• Kilometers 4 and 5: The kilometer 4 is the most "suave" until then, its total percentage is 7.7% and in it are the curves 15 and 14. In 5 you reach the population of La Ribot, 1091 meters. The gap here is 8.8% and there are two other curves, 13 and 12. After passing this town, the vegetation loses lushness and that favors, next to the kilometers already saved and the growing altitude, the feeling of fatigue.

• Kilometers 6 and 7: Once again the slope is softened, remaining at 7.2% in kilometer 6 to find us in the following thousand meters with the toughest ramps, per percentage, of the climb, reaching 12% in three different sections with a cumulative percentage of 9.5%. In the first kilometer there are two more curves, 11 and 10. Curve 9 unites two sections to 12% and 8 is at the exit of the third stage.

• Kilómetro 8 and 9: From this moment the landscape becomes increasingly hostile, with much less vegetation than at the base of the climb. The climb becomes more monotonous because in these two thousand meters only two curves are surpassed, the 7, almost at the beginning of kilometer 9 and the 6, almost at the end of kilometer 9. The first has a percentage of 8% and the second of 7.2%.

• Kilómetro 10, 11 and 12: These three kilometres unite the town of Huez with the ski resort that gives name to the climb. They are very uniform in their percentages, 8.5%, 8.6% and 8.5% respectively. Only at the beginning of kilometer 12, at the exit of Huez, there is a ramp at 11%, following the curve 5, a few meters later is the 4. Already in the 11th kilometer are the 3 and 2 curves to, finally, in the 12th kilometer find the number 1 curve, the last of the climb.

• Kilómetro 13: It runs through the streets of the ski resort, its unevenness is 4.3%, much softer than the rest of the climb. The finish line is almost flat

Curiosities

By nations, the Netherlands has the highest number of victories, 8, followed by Italy with 7. For this reason, it has long been known as "the mountain of the Dutch" and for this reason also, the presence of fans from this country is, normally, massive.

The 2004 Tour was the only one in which an online stage was not held but rather a time trial. Almost a million fans gathered that day to see Lance Armstrong's victory.

Six riders have won twice in Alpe d'Huez: Joop Zoetemelk, Hennie Kuiper, Peter Winnen, Gianni Bugno, Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong. Three Spaniards have won on the mountain of 21 horseshoe curves: Carlos Sastre, Federico Etxabe and Iban Mayo, another three emerged as leaders of the general classification after the dispute of this mythical stage: Pedro Delgado, in the '87 Tours and 88, winning the edition of the latter, Miguel Induráin, in the Tours of 91, 92, 94 and 95, winner of the final overall in all of them, Carlos Sastre also placed himself as leader after winning in this mythical port during the 2008 edition.

Winners in Alpe d'Huez

Year	Phase	Start of stage	Distance (km)	Cat	Stage winner	General classification	Curva
1952	10	Lausanne	266	1	Fausto Coppi	Fausto Coppi	21
1976	9	Divonne-les-Bains	258	1	Joop Zoetemelk	Lucien Van Impe	20
1977	17	Chamonix	184,5	1	Hennie Kuiper	Bernard Thévenet	19
1978	16	Saint-Étienne	240.5	1	Hennie Kuiper	Joop Zoetemelk	18
1979*	17	Les Menuires	166.5	HC	Joaquim Agostinho	Bernard Hinault	17
	18	Alpe d'Huez	118.5	HC	Joop Zoetemelk	Bernard Hinault	16
1981	19	Morzine	230.5	HC	Peter Winnen	Bernard Hinault	15
1982	16	Orcières-Merlette	123	HC	Beat Breu	Bernard Hinault	14
1983	17	The Tour-du-Pin	223	HC	Peter Winnen	Laurent Fignon	13
1984	17	Grenoble	151	HC	Lucho Herrera	Laurent Fignon	12
1986	18	Briançon-Serre Chevalier	182.5	HC	Bernard Hinault	Greg LeMond	11
1987	20	Villard-de-Lans	201	HC	Federico Echave	Pedro Delgado	10
1988	12	Morzine	227	HC	Steven Rooks	Pedro Delgado	9
1989	17	Briançon	165	HC	Gert-Jan Theunisse	Laurent Fignon	8
1990	11	Saint-Gervais-Mont Blanc	182.5	HC	Gianni Bugno	Ronan Pensec	7
1991	17	Gap	125	HC	Gianni Bugno	Miguel Induráin	6
1992	14	Sestrières	186,5	HC	Andrew Hampsten	Miguel Induráin	5
1994	16	Valréas	224,5	HC	Roberto Conti	Miguel Induráin	4
1995	10	Aime–La Plagne	162.5	HC	Marco Pantani	Miguel Induráin	3
1997	13	Saint-Étienne	203.5	HC	Marco Pantani	Jan Ullrich	2
1999	10	Sestrières	220.5	HC	Giuseppe Guerini	Lance Armstrong	1
2001	10	Aix-les-Bains	209	HC	Lance Armstrong	François Simon	21
2003	8	Sallanches	219	HC	Iban Mayo	Lance Armstrong	20
2004	16	Bourg-d'Oisans	15.5 (ITT)	HC	Lance Armstrong	Lance Armstrong	19
2006	15	Gap	187	HC	Fränk Schleck	Óscar Pereiro	18
2008	17	Embrun	210.5	HC	Carlos Sastre	Carlos Sastre	17
2011	19	Modane	109.5	HC	Pierre Rolland	Andy Schleck	16
2013†	18	Gap	172,5	HC	Christophe Riblon	Chris Froome	15
2015	20	Modane Valfréjus	110.5	HC	Thibaut Pinot	Chris Froome	14
2018	12	Bourg-Saint-Maurice	169.5	HC	Geraint Thomas	Geraint Thomas	13
2022	12	Brianzon	165.1	HC	Thomas Pidcock	Jonas Vingegaard	12

† Stage 18 of the 2013 edition of the Tour climbed the Alpe d'Huez 2 times.

Winners by country

Country	Victorias	Last winner
NetherlandsNetherlands	8	Gert-Jan Theunisse in 1989
ItalyItaly	7	Giuseppe Guerini in 1999
France	4	Thibaut Pinot in 2015
SpainSpain	3	Carlos Sastre in 2008
United KingdomUnited Kingdom	2	Thomas Pidcock in 2022
Portugal	1	Joaquim Agostinho in 1979
SwitzerlandSwitzerland	1	Beat Breu in 1982
ColombiaColombia	1	Luis Herrera in 1984
United States	1	Andrew Hampsten in 1992
LuxembourgLuxembourg	1	Fränk Schleck in 2006

Statistics

More victories

Cycling	Victorias	Years
Hennie Kuiper	2	1977 and 1978
Joop Zoetemelk	2	1976 and 1979
Peter Winnen	2	1981-1983
Gianni Bugno	2	1990 and 1991
Marco Pantani	2	1995 and 1997
Lance Armstrong	2	2001 and 2004

Faster ascents to Alpe d'Huez

The fastest ascent was carried out by Marco Pantani in 1995: 36' 50s. All times are taken 13.8 km from the summit.

Position	Time	Name	Year
1	36' 50"	Marco Pantani	1995
2	36' 55"	Marco Pantani	1997
3	37' 15"	Marco Pantani	1994
4	37' 36"	Lance Armstrong	2004
5	37'41"	Jan Ullrich	1997
6	38' 00"	Lance Armstrong	2001
7	38' 10"	Miguel Induráin	1995
7	38' 10"	Alex Zülle	1995
9	38' 12"	Bjarne Riis	1995
10	38' 22"	Richard Virenque	1997

Altitude of the horseshoe curves of the Alpe d'Huez

Downward slope

One of the characteristics of this port is that unlike other "colossi" The Special category of the Tour de France had no downhill slope, so every time it was ascended it had to be a high finish. However, for the 2013 edition they fixed the road to the Col de Sarenne to be able to pass this stop twice in that edition. Thus multiplying the arrival options of this port for future editions.