You may have recognised this climb. It is one of the legendary climbs of the Alps and
of the sport. It's Alpe D'Huez, with it's 21 hairpins.
Alpe D'Huez.
This is it. Kilometre zero. Wish us all the best! One of the most iconic climbs I reckon
in the whole of cycling Tom.
Yeah, have you ever done it before Matt?
Well I rode it last in 1986, so I wondered if it's changed much...
...which, viewers, was two years before I was born,
three years after Simon Richardson was born,
Thanks for reminding us of that...
and probably about six years before film maker Tom was born.
Yeah.
Well hopefully we'll see the sun break through soon. The weather as ever here in the Alps
is remarkably changeable.
Each hairpin on Alpe D'Huez has a name and number. We're on hairpin 18, which is named
after Hennie Kuiper who won in 1978 and Frank Schleck, who won more recently in 2006. The
Alpe D'Huez has been use that many times in the Tour de France and is that popular that
they're now having to double up on the names of each of the hairpins.
The gradient now has lessened a bit to about 7 or 8% and pretty much stays like this all
the way to the ski station at the top where it actually drops and plateaus before kicking
up to the line. The iconic status of Alpe D'Huez - it really is a climb you need to
respect. It is very very hard and you need to pace yourself. Most mortals will look at
climbing this in around an hour. Again, very steep at the bottom before more of a gradual
climb to the top. But still, there are sections just there of up to 10%. So make sure, unlike
me, you don't go into the red. Whoo, hope there's a café open!
Alpe D'Huez was first used in the Tour de France way back in 1952 when, 6km from the
top, Fausto Coppi attacked, leaving behind his breakaway companion Jean Robic for a very
famous victory that was actually televised for the first ever time.
This is the famous Dutch corner. Normally this is an absolute sea of orange.
Look, there's only one nutter in orange today!
Oh fantastic, I've got no bottles on either! Nice one!
Dutch corner, god that's gorgeous!
I tell you what, this is definitely going to get me to the top.
Right, I'm ready to roll!
That corner was corner 3, famously won by Marco Pantani in 1998 en route to victory
in the Tour de France.
This is the famous little tunnel with the resort overhead. At this point, as the riders
emerge back into daylight, they can almost smell the finish line.
This is it. This is where, if you're solo, you can savour the moment. But if you're with
a couple of other riders it's a ferocious last couple of hundred metres to the line,
and I know that Lasty is going to roll me on this one!
There you have it. Alpe D'Huez. What a climb.
Chapeau.
Time for a coffee, or maybe even a beer!