Alpe d'HuezHC
- 12.06 km
- Length
- 8.7%
- Average
- 1,047 m
- Elevation gain
- 11.3%
- Steepest 500 m
- 1,776 m(GPX)
- Summit
The 21 hairpins, each with a stage winner's name on the sign. The climb starts abruptly: the valley road is flat right up to the foot, and then the first two kilometres rise at ten per cent. Get through those without blowing and the rest sits steadily between eight and nine per cent.
How long will Alpe d'Huez take you?
A rider at 3.0 W/kg takes about 72 minutes to climb Alpe d'Huez.
Put in your weight and the average power you hold on the gradient. We add 9 kg for bike and kit. The model works the time out from physics, and it has been tested against real rides.
Riders
The road
Alpe d'Huez is a ski resort first and a cycling climb second. The road up was built in the 1930s, and the Tour first came in 1952, when Fausto Coppi won.
The bends are numbered down from 21 at La Garde to 1 just before the finish, and every sign carries a winner's name. Arrive late in the list and you share a sign — there have been more winners than bends since 2001.
The climb ends in the village itself, with bakeries and cafés. The church of Saint-Ferréol stands near where the Tour finish line usually sits.
The climb
The first two kilometres are the steepest on the climb. The valley road is flat right up to the foot, so you go from flat to ten per cent with no warm-up.
From the third kilometre the gradient settles between eight and nine per cent and stays there. The ninth kilometre is the only one that eases noticeably, down to seven per cent, and past Huez it lightens a little.
The hairpins break the climb up. The road flattens through each one, giving you a few seconds of easier pedalling on the inside before it stands up again. The signs count down from 21 — an easier way to measure an hour than kilometres.