Alpe d'Huez Cycling

Bourg-d'Oisans, Franceactivities

There are climbs, and then there is Alpe d'Huez. Those 14 kilometres from Bourg-d'Oisans to the summit resort are arguably the most storied stretch of tarmac in cycling, and nothing quite prepares you for the reality of standing at the bottom, staring up at hairpin one of twenty-one, knowing the road simply does not relent until you reach 1,860 metres. The ascent gains 1,073 metres at an average gradient of around eight percent, though the lower hairpins regularly tip past ten. The road surface is generally well maintained — smoothed repeatedly by Tour de France passage — but expect some frost cracking near the top if you arrive early in the season. Virtually all traffic shares the same carriageway, so weekday mornings are considerably quieter and safer than summer weekends when campervans and tourist coaches crowd the bends. Riding from Bourg-d'Oisans is the only sensible direction; there is no other way this works. Most cyclists treat it as a single-day effort based in Bourg, which has cafés, bike shops with hire and mechanical support, and straightforward bus or car access from Grenoble. The hairpins are numbered in reverse from the bottom, each named for a Tour winner, and ticking them off becomes its own rhythm. Scenery opens dramatically above the tree line around hairpin ten, revealing the Romanche valley floor far below and the Grandes Rousses glacier edging into view. At the top, the resort village is functional rather than charming, but the coffee and the view from the terrace earn their place. Ride between late May and September; anyone who struggles to sustain ten kilometres of sustained climbing on a standard road bike should build base fitness elsewhere first.

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