CyclingUp: Alpe d'Huez-south

You are visitor nr.

Region: French Alps
Climbing effort: 959 points
Elevation meters: 1116
Steepest kilometer: 10.8%

Steepest 250 m: 12%
Foot: 730 m    Top: 1840 m
Mean slope: 8.1%
Length: 13.8 km

From: Le Bourg-s'Oisans
Road conditions (2015): good
Other race bikers: >25 per hour
Motor vehicles: 60-180 per hour
Scenerie and road: (2/5)
Restaurant or bar near top: yes

PHOTOS      VIDEO      W SIDE

Is this the world's most famous climb for cyclists? Or only in the Netherlands thanks to the 8 victories by Dutch cyclists during the Tour de France between 1967 and 1989 and thanks to the charity event Alpe d'HuZes. In any case the road to Alpe d'Huez is full of cyclists, who try to make the ascent once or more often. A striking aspect of the climb is the short straight line distance between start and finish. This is just 4.5 km whereas there are 1100 elevation meters to bridge. To make that possible the route contains 22 hairpin bends. Except for the last section through the ski resort itself, the steepness of the climb is fairly typical of the Alps (mostly 8-9%). Slightly harder is the first section until the fifth hairpin bend with inclinations for the 500-meter-intervals of the profile up to 11%. Many finish their ride at the beginning of Alpe d'Huez but by doing so they skip the last one and a half, pretty easy (0-5%) kilometers of the Tour stage through the village. Without that last part the climb accumulates 918 climb effort points and 1044 elevation meters. I found it difficult to find the way through the village but among all other signs there are signs that indicate the Tour itinerary.