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Stage 19: Gap – Alpe d’Huez, 127.9k
The shortest road stage of this year’s edition, but a very important day nonetheless. It’s the last big MTF of this year’s race, and of course there’s a pretty prestigious stage win up for grabs. You know, because chances to win on Alpe d’Huez come along so rarely these days.Map and profile
Start
Barring the trip to Paris, the long transfers are very much over – as evidenced in 1989, Gap is close enough to Orcières for the two to have been linked by a time trial. Located where the routes to the Montgenèvre pass, the Provence, Grenoble and Valence meet, it was practically inevitable that at least a decent-sized town would develop where Gap sits today. This was set in motion during the reign of Augustus, when the construction of a road between the former two directions led to the founding of a number of waystations, including Gap (then known as Vappincum). The waystation developed into a town when roads in the other two directions were opened too. In the 5th century, Gap became the seat of a diocese. As the Middle Ages progressed, the bishops became one of the parties vying for control of the town. The other party was a succession of counties, initially the Provence, until a succession crisis in 1125 led to its northern part being split off as the new county of Forcalquier. In 1209, the ruling house of this county died out, and its territory was divided by the Provence and the Dauphiné, with Gap becoming part of the latter. Finally, in 1349, the Dauphins sold their county to the kings of France, under an agreement that meant the French heirs apparent were styled as Dauphins until the French Revolution. This basically ended the question of who was in control in Gap.
By this point, Gap had become a pretty significant town. It was fortified in the 12th century, had gained a degree of autonomy, and profited from the exile of the Popes to Avignon as it led to more traffic coming in from Italy. During the French Wars of Religion, it at least initially remained Catholic, but because the Champsaur (i.e. the area where we finished yesterday) had become Protestant, it repeatedly saw military action and saw periods of Protestant control. However, this was nothing compared to what happened during the Nine Years’ War (1688-97). As happened regularly during the reign of Louis XIV, France had gone to war in an attempt to seize more territory, but this time, almost all its neighbours joined forces. In this context, in 1692, the Savoyards invaded the Dauphiné. When they reached Gap (which by then had a population of about 5000), they sacked the town and burned almost all of it.
Despite this setback, Gap was rebuilt and continued in its function as a regional administrative and trade centre. During the French Revolution, it became the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department, which it remains to this day. Industrialisation somewhat passed it by, although the problems caused by the relatively arid climate of the Gap basin were finally dealt with by the construction of an underground canal from the Champsaur in the late 19th century. This explains why population growth before the Second World War was relatively slow. After the war, the rapid rise of Alpine tourism drew in much more visitors, and as the regional centre, Gap naturally profited. The downside was that the town became rather congested with traffic, and despite plans dating back to the 1970s and construction starting in 2014, the ring road remains unfinished. As you can see in this picture, things are going really well.
As for sports, Gap is the birthplace of the aforementioned Sébastien Ogier, but its heritage is mostly in cycling. It hosted the World Championships in 1972 (won by Marino Basso and Geneviève Gambillon). In addition, the Tour has been here in 26 previous editions, including that stage in 2003 that effectively ended Joseba Beloki’s career while Lance Armstrong made for the fields.
(picture by Pline at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The start of the stage is a bit strange, with the final kilometre of the neutralisation averaging over 9%. Once that’s out of the way, there are 5.2 kilometres of Col Bayard left to race. The KOM is 500 metres before the actual col. Part of the Route Napoléon, this was the first Alpine pass used by the Tour, in 1905 (albeit from the other side).
The descent is shorter and perhaps the least technical in all of the Alps. After it, we have a brief section of valley, most of which was also used in the opposite direction on the previous stage, before the second-hardest climb of the day starts. Col du Noyer is a very solid climb in all respects, with both the scenery and the gradients at their best towards the summit.
The descent is much shallower, soon giving way to a long downhill false flat that takes the riders to the manmade Lac du Sautet. After crossing the dam, there is an uncategorised climb into Corps. ASO really can’t decide what they want to do with this hill – it was a cat. 4 in 2020 and a cat. 3 in 2026, it’s a bit weird that they’ve done three different things in three different editions now despite it being the same climb every time.
Following a second, longer section retracing the previous day’s route, the road starts to rise once more in the direction of Col d’Ornon. Part way up the long, uncategorised false flat before the actual KOM, in Le Périer, 9.8k before the summit.
The descent is relatively straightforward, but riders will still need to be on their toes given how short the valley before the MTF is. Alpe d’Huez really needs no introduction. And let’s be real, overused climb or no, it’s a more than suitable climb for this particular slot. The MTF lends itself to attacks lower down the mountain, which is exactly what you want at this point in the race. And on a stage that isn’t trying to be anything more than a MTF shootout, it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t connect perfectly to Croix de Fer or Galibier, because we aren’t going there anyway.
Finish
Although Alpe d’Huez is of course mainly associated with skiing and cycling, its history goes back far further. The Alpe has been inhabited since the 12th century, when a village was established just east of the modern station to enable the exploitation of a silver mine. Although this mine was abandoned after it flooded in 1330, the plateau was also highly suitable for farming in summer, and agriculture remained the sole source of income until the highest coal mine in Europe (at 2600 metres) was opened in 1870. In 1950, this mine, too, was closed following an avalanche that destroyed most of the facilities and killed 10 people.
By this point, the first touristic developments had started. The first hotel opened in 1911, and in 1936, Jean Pomagalski, who would go on to found Poma (now the second-largest ski lift manufacturer in the world) constructed his first ski lift here. The speed of construction increased after the Second World War, especially when it was designated as the venue for the bobsleigh event (the track for which has long since been demolished). Modern Alpe d’Huez is the heart of one of France’s largest ski resorts, but perhaps even better known as a Tour de France climb. Its debut in 1952 was a bit of a one-off, but since it resurfaced in 1976, it was used 29 times (and climbed 30 times) from then until 2018. Following that year’s stage, when the famously great crowds (ahem) caused Vincenzo Nibali to crash and DNS the following day, it fell out of favour a bit, only returning in 2022, but clearly this year, ASO’s greatest addiction has returned with a vengeance. Of course, it did host the epic finish to the 2024 women’s edition in the meantime, an addition to a pantheon that includes the epic final mountain stage in 2011, Sastre’s race-winning attack in 2008, The Look ™ in 2001, Pantani’s three (censored, this is not the Clinic) ascents in the 1990s, probably the most famous moments of Hinault’s rivalries with LeMond and Fignon in 1986 and 1984 respectively, and that initial Coppi win in his historically dominant 1952 Tour. If I’ve forgotten your favourite Huez finish, my apologies.
(picture by Marcin Floryan at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
The early climbing should ensure a strong break, but even so, the length of the stage and the easy terrain after Noyer means that, if certain people want to tick the Huez win off their list, the GC riders are clearly favoured.
