Three days in a row in August 2012, in a heatwave, with the lads: the Cormet de Roselend from Albertville; the Télégraphe, the Galibier and the Glandon in one 165km day from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the biggest climbing day of my life at 4,063m; and Alpe d'Huez, all 21 hairpins. 322km and 7,755m in three days.
In August 2012 I went to the French Alps with friends for the big Tour de France climbs, and we did them back to back in some of the hottest weather I've ridden in. The notes say it: "Unbelievably hot ride..." on the first day, and on the second, the one I called Killer Day, "Absolutely boiling, and 160 + kilometres and Galibier and Glandon thrown in..."
The Climbs
The Col du Galibier, at 2,642m, is the climb most often at the roof of the Tour de France. It was first used in 1911, when Émile Georget was first over the top, and it's been crossed 31 times since 1947. A monument to Henri Desgrange, the Tour's founder, stands at the south end of the old tunnel; the Souvenir Henri Desgrange prize goes to the first rider over the Tour's highest point each year. From Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, including the Col du Télégraphe, it's 34.8km and 2,120m at 6.1%. In 2011 Andy Schleck won the first summit finish on the pass after a 60km solo attack.
The Col du Glandon, 1,924m, links Le Bourg-d'Oisans with La Chambre in the Maurienne. The road opened in 1898 and was first crossed by the Tour in 1947. From the Bourg-d'Oisans side it's 24.1km and 1,152m; the La Chambre side is 21.3km at 6.9%, with the last two kilometres over 10%.
Alpe d'Huez needs no introduction: 13.8km from Le Bourg-d'Oisans and 1,120m at 8.1%, up 21 hairpins, each named after a stage winner, to 1,860m. It was the Tour's first ever summit finish in 1952, won by Fausto Coppi, and Dutch riders won so many of the early finishes that it's known as the Dutch mountain.
The Cormet de Roselend, 1,968m, links Beaufort and Bourg-Saint-Maurice past the Lac de Roselend: about 20km and 1,200m from either side at around 6%. The Tour first used it in 1979.
Day 1Albertville, Lac de Roselend And The Cormet de RoselendSunday 19 August 2012
How The Day Went
20 min
32km+1,150m
69 min
6.2km+307m
35km−1,100m
42kmwith a stop in Moûtiers
We started with a coffee in Albertville, then the long drag up through the Beaufortain to Beaufort, where the cheese comes from, and on up towards the Lac de Roselend: 32km and 1,150m before lunch. Lunch was by the lake for over an hour, and then the last 6km to the Cormet. Down the far side to Bourg-Saint-Maurice and back along the Isère valley through Aime and Moûtiers. 113km and 2,436m, and unbelievably hot.
Day 2Killer Day: Télégraphe, Galibier And GlandonMonday 20 August 2012
How The Day Went
26km+1,030m
21 min
about 18km+1,245mthe last 5km at 8%
26 minphotos
61 min
46km−1,350m
34km+1,200min the heat of the afternoon
21.7km−1,300m
9.5km
The big one. We left Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at 08:48 and rode up the valley to Saint-Michel and the Col du Télégraphe, then on through Valloire to the Galibier, the last 5km at over 8%, to the sign at 2,642m at 12:31. Twenty-six minutes on the top for photos, a short descent to the Col du Lautaret for an hour's lunch under the giant yellow bike, and then 46km downhill along the Romanche valley to Le Bourg-d'Oisans.
That would have been a big day on its own. Instead we turned north at Rochetaillée and climbed the Glandon in the late-afternoon heat, through Allemond and on up to 1,924m at 18:14, before the long descent on the Maurienne side, where someone had painted a tribute on the road to Laurent Fignon, the two-time Tour winner who had died two years before. Back in Saint-Jean at 19:16: 165km, 4,063m of climbing, seven hours 42 minutes of riding and over ten hours out. The biggest climbing day in all my Strava history.
Day 3Alpe d'Huez, All 21 HairpinsTuesday 21 August 2012
How The Day Went
11.3km+315m
17 min
9.9km+802m8.1% average65 min
79 minlunch
22km−968m
The last day, and the famous one. From Rochetaillée down to Le Bourg-d'Oisans and onto the climb, with a stop at La Garde, then the hairpins: each one numbered on a board counting down from 21, each named after a stage winner, with the road covered in painted names from the Tour. 9.9km and 802m at 8.1% from La Garde to the top in 65 minutes, past the "Arrivée" sign at 13:12, and a long lunch at the top before descending the same 21 bends. 44km and 1,256m.
A Gentler Return, Ten Years Later
In April 2022 we were back in the Beaufortain, this time with my wife on her bike on the flat valley cycle path near Beaufort, nothing like the 2012 climbs.
