“New” is rarely used now to describe a route of the Tour de France after 112 editions of the world’s biggest bike race. Almost every nook and cranny, from lush valleys to rugged alpine slopes, has been covered by the Grand Tour, so why not make something old new again?
At the 113th edition of the Tour, the striking crescendo to the three weeks of racing will take place with back-to-back days of climbing at Alpe d’Huez, the first time the ascent will be made from two different sides.
It is always special when the 21 days of racing include the 21 switchbacks of l’Alpe d’Huez, which isn’t that common. This is just the 33rd time the climb has featured in the men’s Tour, and it decided the winner of the Tour de France Femmes in 2024.
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The last time the men climbed Alpe d’Huez was in 2022, when the Col du Galibier and Col de la Croix de Fer were included on the approach to the ‘front’ climb, Tom Pidcock carving his name into cycling’s history books.
The 21 switchbacks on the signature climb to the alpine ski resort area have become legendary among cycling fans and riders alike. It has been described as beautiful and brutal. Each corner brings a reprieve from the relentless ascent, averaging 8.1% for the official 13.7 kilometres, as well as reminders of past champions, each hairpin numbered and a sign emblazoned with a name, or two, of past stage winners to the top of the mountain.
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Friday’s stage 19 brings a more familiar passage from Gap to Alpe d’Huez, this time with early ascents of Col Bayard and Col du Noyer, leading to Col d’Ornon and the famous finale of 3,500 metres of climbing.
It is then Saturday’s stage 20 that brings “uncharted terrain”, as the Tour’s Director Christian Prudhomme described it. The day starts in the shadow of the mountain in le Bourg d’Oisans and stabs the legs with 5,450 metres of elevation across four climbs, including the hors categorie Col du Galibier and Col de la Croix de Fer, for a first-time strike up the back side from the HC test at Col de Sarenne.
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In addition to the Tour de France, Alpe d’Huez hosted FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup races in 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)
First and foremost, Alpe d’Huez is a ski area in Isère that was developed in the 1920s. Winter is the busier season for the mountain as a prime location connected to other resorts – Vaujany, Oz-en-Oisans, Villard-Reculas, Auris-en-Oisans – for 250 kilometres of slopes across 10,000 hectares (including 840 skiable). The connections to these trails are made by 70 ski lifts.
A year before the Tour first arrived at Alpe d’Huez in 1952, the budding ski area hosted the Bobsleigh World Championships, the first time two-man and four-man competitions were held in France.
When the 1968 Winter Olympic Games came to Grenoble, Alpe d’Huez, located 65km to the south-east, was selected for bobsleigh competitions. That track no longer exists, but the area nonetheless benefited from global interest in other alpine adventures.
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Those ski lifts will come in handy at this year’s Tour de France, as officials in the department of Isère, in collaboration with Tour organisers, will close many of the roads to traffic for several days on July 24 and 25 due to the pro bike race, and have recommended that spectators use ski lifts for travel in the area those days.
It seems that getting to the top of Alpe d’Huez may be even more of an adventure for spectators than the pro athletes! Operating ski lifts will allow spectators to reach Alpe d’Huez from Villard-Reculas via the Signal gondola, or smaller lifts from Auris-en-Oisans. There are also other options that require two or more cable car connections.
After the first Tour de France took place in 1903, it was 49 years later that the first summit finish of the route was introduced, and that was at Alpe d’Huez. Over that span of years, the Tour was held 39 times, with racing suspended twice due to world wars.
Italian Fausto Coppi was the first winner on the then-new mountain, the road unpaved in 1952. Coppi stormed up the mountain in 45 minutes and 22 seconds – a record which would hold until 1989 – and took the yellow jersey from Italian Andrea Carrea, which launched him to a second GC title. In fact, both years he won the Tour (1949 and 1952), he also won the Giro d’Italia.
But race officials were stunned at how fast he ascended Alpe d’Huez and deemed the climb ‘easy’, so removed it from the route for two decades. The climb made a second appearance in 1976, this time Joop Zoetemelk and Lucien Van Impe battling together for the victory, Zoetemelk winning the stage and Van Impe taking the yellow jersey.
Various lifts at the ski resort are recommended for spectators to reach Alpe d’Huez (Image credit: Getty Images)
Two times before, Alpe d’Huez has featured as a double climb for riders in the same Tour de France. In 1979, the 21 switchbacks were tackled on back-to-back days. The first time up was stage 17, which ran 167 kilometres from Les Menuires. The first trip was won by Portuguese rider Joaquim Agostinho.
Stage 18 had a rare start at the top of the mountain, with a 119km circuit that wound back to the top. Zoetemelk earned his second victory in four years, riding in a time of 47 minutes, 26 seconds.
More history was written in 2013 when l’Alpe d’Huez was climbed twice on the same day. As stage 18, the route started in Gap for 172.5km, making the first ascent of the big climb with 66km to cover.
Once through the ski resort at the top, riders still had to climb higher to the top of Col de Sarenne, at an elevation of 1,999 metres, and made the first-ever descent on the narrow, pot-hole-filled tarmac on the backside of the mountain, only to sail through the Romanche Valley and back to the switchbacks. Christophe Riblon won the stage from the breakaway while Chris Froome finished 3:18 back in the yellow jersey and held on for the overall win three days later in Paris.
Col de Sarenne (Image credit: Will Jones)
This year’s Alpe d’Huez double is distinctly different, as there is no duplication with the route taken to the top. The first day is the traditional climb, while the second day is the new climb on the back side, now with new pavement to the top. While the road may be smoother, it may not be a trouble-free climb, as recent hot weather has produced severe thunderstorms that have left roads flooded and strewn with rockslides.
The ascent is 12.8km, similar in length to the other side, and has a softer 7.3% gradient. However, the steeper section of this climb comes near the top, a long stretch of 2km with pitches at 10%, while most of the 11-12% gradients from the Bourg d’Oisans side begin at the base.
And after the crest of the HC-classified climb, riders still have 14km to the finish line, a large loop at the top of the developed ski resort area.
Last fall, local environmentalists created an online petition to raise concerns to organisers about the race negatively impacting local flora and fauna, the climb located next to a natural park. The wildlife mentioned specifically included golden eagles, whose hatching occurs in the Sarenne area or adjoining valleys in July.
The Col de Sarenne is open to road traffic four months of the year, with a speed limit set at 20 kph due to the narrow width and unbarriered sections of the roadway. It will be interesting to see how fast the lead riders push up the path with 144.4 tough kilometres in the legs and 26.5km to go from the base of the final approach of stage 20.
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