Tour 2015: Stage 20 Modane Valfréjus > Alpe d’Huez
STAGE FACT
A plaque on each of Alpe d’Huez’s hairpins counts down the number of bends to the top and commemorates the various stage winners on the climb.
Do you remember the stage in 2011 when Alberto Contador attacked almost from the gun, the race blew to bits on the first climb and Pierre Rolland broke away to win? Well, this stage is identical — a lively blast of 110 km that does away with any preamble and smacks the bunch up with a triple whammy of Alpine icons.
Same again then please
Maybe, maybe not. With less than two weeks to go before the Tour’s start it looked like the Col du Galibier — the highest climb of the race — would be taken off the parcours following a landslide this April. If the stage is rerouted it’s likely to go over the Col de la Croix de Fer before the ascent from Bourg d’Oisans up the infamous 21 hairpins of Alpe d’Huez, arena of some of the Tour’s most famous moments.
What makes Alpe d’Huez so special?
First introduced in 1952, the Tour has come back here on 26 other occasions since. At the top it’s just another Alpine ski resort but the fans flock here in their droves, especially the Dutch, who’ve colonised a corner. Fausto Coppi won on the Tour’s first visit here, while in 1986 it was where team-mates Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond buried the hatchet. On the last visit, Chris Froome bonked and was given a 20-second time penalty for taking an illegal feed.
What will happen?
It’s the unpredictability of short stages which makes them so alluring. The race will likely go off like a box of fireworks on the first climb and from there anything can happen. This is the last mountain stage so riders can afford to lay it all on the line. The autobus will be aware that the short distance makes for an unforgiving time cut off for such an aggressive stage.
Maybe, maybe not. With less than two weeks to go before the Tour’s start it looked like the Col du Galibier — the highest climb of the race — would be taken off the parcours following a landslide this April. If the stage is rerouted it’s likely to go over the Col de la Croix de Fer before the ascent from Bourg d’Oisans up the infamous 21 hairpins of Alpe d’Huez, arena of some of the Tour’s most famous moments.
What makes Alpe d’Huez so special?
First introduced in 1952, the Tour has come back here on 26 other occasions since. At the top it’s just another Alpine ski resort but the fans flock here in their droves, especially the Dutch, who’ve colonised a corner. Fausto Coppi won on the Tour’s first visit here, while in 1986 it was where team-mates Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond buried the hatchet. On the last visit, Chris Froome bonked and was given a 20-second time penalty for taking an illegal feed.
What will happen?
It’s the unpredictability of short stages which makes them so alluring. The race will likely go off like a box of fireworks on the first climb and from there anything can happen. This is the last mountain stage so riders can afford to lay it all on the line. The autobus will be aware that the short distance makes for an unforgiving time cut off for such an aggressive stage.
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