Alpe d’Huez
Distance: 14.17 km
Elevation Gain: 1129 m
Elevation Loss: 3 m
Difficulty:
1057 (Hard)
FIETS Index: 9.22 FIETS
Avg Grade: 8.18 %
Max cat climb: HC
Min elevation: 713 m
Max elevation: 1841 m
Ride Category:
Epic Climb
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Every one of the 21 numbered hairpins of Alpe d’Huez, in the Romanche valley of south-eastern France, bears the names of past Tour de France stage winners, and there are now more winners than bends. It hosted the first summit finish in Tour history in 1952, won by Fausto Coppi. It became a regular finish in 1976, when Georges Rajon brought the race back and borrowed the idea of numbering the bends from the Vrsic Pass in Slovenia. Dutch riders then won eight of the fourteen finishes up to 1989, which made it “the Dutch mountain”. Bend 7, at the Romanesque church of Saint-Ferréol, is still known as Dutch Corner.
This ride climbs the classic route from the roundabout outside Le Bourg-d’Oisans to the top of the resort. The hardest ramps come first, up to the village of La Garde at bend 16, and the road never really lets up after that. Even the best riders need well over half an hour: in July 2026 Tadej Pogacar set the fastest time on record, 35 minutes 27 seconds, breaking the mark Marco Pantani had held since 1995. The climb is also the finale of La Marmotte, after the Glandon, Télégraphe and Galibier. And it gave the Tour one of its best-loved images in 1986, when Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond crossed the line together, arm in arm.
