Tour de France 2024: Galibier, Tourmalet & Co. - these are the toughest mountains of the Tour
Sebastian Lindner
· 02.07.2024
Col du Galibier | Stage 4 | Tuesday, 2 July | Pinerolo - Valloire
A legend of the Tour is on the programme earlier than it has been for a long time. The Col du Galibier has to be crossed on the 4th stage of the Tour of France. Normally only on the programme in the third week, this changes this year due to the start of the tour in Italy. The French territory is then reached without any transfers via the Alps - and the Galibier.
The mountain has been on the Tour programme more than 60 times. At that time, however, the field still rode through the tunnel located around 100 metres below the top of the pass, which was built in the 19th century. This remained the case until the 1970s, when the route was taken over the pass road. There was one exception in 2011, when the tunnel, which has since been closed and reactivated, was used again.
But 2011 was also a special Galibier year in other respects. Back then, the mountain was ridden twice in a Tour. The 18th stage even ended as a mountain finish on the fourth highest pass ever crossed in the Tour at 2642 metres. One day later, the route to L'Alpe d'Huez took them over the Galibier again. Andy Schleck was the first to the top both times.
2024 from the south-east: the easier ramp of the Galibier
In 2022, the last time the Col du Galibier was on the programme, the mountain was ridden twice on two consecutive stages. Once from the north and once from the south-east. The route coming from the south-east from Briancon via the Col du Lautaret with the descent to the north and Valloire, where the finish of the stage is also located, is also the route that the peloton will take in 2024.
It is considered the somewhat easier ascent. The Tour organiser A.S.O. specifies 23 kilometres for the climb in the profile. However, almost the first 15 kilometres actually belong to the Lautaret and, with a gradient of rarely more than six per cent, are easy and evenly rideable. The southern ramp of the Galibier after the Lautaret, which comes in at 8.6 kilometres, is significantly steeper, but only rarely reaches double digits.
Another special classification will also be awarded on the Col du Galibier. The Henri Desgrange souvenir in honour of the founder of the Tour de France, for whom a stele has also been erected at the southern end of the tunnel, rewards the first rider at the top of the pass with 5000 euros.
Col du Tourmalet | 14th stage | Saturday, 13 July | Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d'Adet)
The Pyrenees are on the programme at the end of the second Tour de France week. And once again, the Col du Tourmalet is on the programme. With more than 80 crossings, the 2115 metre high pass is something like the Tour de France's home mountain. No other high mountain pass has been ridden more often - and none earlier. The Tourmalet was first on the agenda back in 1910, when paved roads were still unthinkable.
In 1974, the Tourmalet was represented twice in a tour for the first time. First as a mountain finish, then one day later with a crossing. The last time this was the case was in 2010. The arrival on the Tourmalet was won by Andy Schleck. Back then, the route led over the western ascent of Luz-Saint-Sauveur. The 50:10 minutes that Schleck needed back then for the 19 kilometres with 1415 metres of elevation gain are still a record today. On the other side, the ascent via Sainte-Marie-de-Campan with around 150 metres in altitude and two kilometres less, Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard have been the new record holders since the 2023 Tour with 45:35 minutes. However, the first to reach the summit was the Norwegian Tobias Halland Johannessen.
In 2024, however, the Tourmalet will once again be conquered from the west. The legendary Pyrenean giant has an average gradient of 7.4 per cent. The last three kilometres are particularly steep. Here, the pendulum often swings over the ten per cent mark.
As on the Galibier, a special prize is also awarded on the Tourmalet. The Jacques Goddet souvenir honours the second and long-standing director of the Tour.
Pla d'Adet | 14th stage | Saturday, 13 July | Pau - Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d'Adet)
However, the Tourmalet on the 14th stage is only the prelude to a finale at Pla d'Adet. The Tour history of the winter sports station in the Pyrenees is still relatively short. However, as a dead end, the number of possibilities to build a stage around it is also significantly reduced. So it's no wonder that there was a mountain finish every time the Pla d'Adet was on the programme.
This has been the case exactly ten times. The first time was in 1974 with Raymond Poulidor, Mathieu van der Poel's grandfather, as the winner. After that, the ski resort, which belongs to the municipality of Saint-Lary-Soulan, really came into fashion. In the following two years, a stage also ended there, and three more until 1982. After that, however, it was somewhat forgotten. The Tour last stopped here in 2014 - with Rafal Majka as the winner.
The climb has a lot to offer from a sporting point of view. 10.6 kilometres on good asphalt await from the start of the ascent in Vignec. The lower section in particular is extremely steep. Up to 16 per cent can be found. Some kilometres average almost twelve. But it gets flatter at the top. After seven kilometres, just before the path turns off to the Col de Portet, there is even a slight descent. After nine kilometres, the gradient is again well into double figures, averaging just over seven per cent, before the last few metres flatten out again. In any case, there is hardly any rhythm here.
Plateau de Beille | Stage 15 | Sunday, 14 July | Loudenvielle - Plateau de Beille
The Tour de France history of the Plateau de Beille, the finish of the second Pyrenean stage in 2024, is also still quite short. Like the Pla d'Adet, this winter sports facility is also a dead end. A stage has only ended here six times. But sometimes a single moment is enough for a climb to go down in the history books.
Not only did Marco Pantani start his chase here in 1998 to take the yellow jersey off Jan Ullrich. The 43:20 minutes he needed back then are still a record today. Even more memorable was the duel between Alberto Contador and Michael Rasmussen. The 24-year-old Spaniard was riding in white, Rasmussen was wearing the yellow jersey. Both gave each other nothing in the last five kilometres, but in the end Contador prevailed and celebrated his first stage win in the Tour de France - and later also overall victory. The last time the Plateau de Beille was part of the Tour programme was in 2015, when a Spaniard also won in Joaquim Rodriguez.
The plateau in the eastern Pyrenees is approached from the south from Les Cabannes. The ramp from there measures just under 16 kilometres. With an average gradient of 7.9 per cent. It is particularly steep in the first third. It is not uncommon for the gradient to reach double figures here. After six kilometres, it becomes briefly flat before the most difficult section awaits after nine kilometres. It then gets easier from kilometre 12. Partly flat moments are interrupted again by a short section with up to twelve per cent before it finally flattens out towards the top.
Cime de la Bonette | 19th stage | Friday, 19 July | Embrun - Isola 2000
The hunt for records always plays a role in the Tour de France. However, there are limits to the maximum height that can be reached during the race. And the Cime de la Bonette is very close. There is only one other higher point in the Alps (and the Pyrenees) that is tarmac. And that is the Ötztal Glacier Road.
The Tour de France hasn't been there yet. But it has been to the Cime de la Bonette. At 2802 metres, the ring road that connects to the Col de la Bonette is the highest point ever reached by a rider in the Tour de France. The first was Federico Bahamontes, who won the mountain classification there in 1964. Two years later, Bahamontes was the first again. After that, it was Robert Millar in 1993 who was the first to reach the highest point of the Tour on a stage. And the last to date was John-Lee Augustyn. That was in 2008.
Extra round with a good percentage
Hardly anyone is familiar with the South African today. But things could have turned out differently. After the professional from Team Barloworld, Sky's predecessor, reached the Cime in first place, he crashed as part of the leading group on the descent to Jausiers, where the stage ended. A possible victory would have been Augustyn's greatest career success by far. However, he remains part of Tour history as the conqueror of the Cime.
Jausier, on the other hand, is also the starting point for this year's fifth crossing of the highest point, which is the third time the north direction has been chosen. It is 22.9 kilometres to the Cime. The average gradient fluctuates between six and eight, with the first flatter section after 16 kilometres. Initially steeper again for a short time, it then flattens out up to the Col de la Bonette pass at 2715 metres. But then comes the two-kilometre ring road. Its high point is reached about halfway up. This part is particularly steep again, averaging over ten per cent.
Isola 2000 | 19th stage | Friday, 19 July | Embrun - Isola 2000
This is only the second time in the history of the Tour de France that a stage will finish in Isola 2000. The first time was in 1993, when Tony Rominger won. Another time, in 2008, the ski resort was crossed on the descent from the Col de la Lombarde, which forms the border between Italy and France. Otherwise, the resort close to the border has so far been left out.
The ascent from the main town of Isola is 16 kilometres long and features a wide and easily passable road that bridges around 1200 metres in altitude through a deeply incised, narrow valley without many hairpin bends. The beginning and middle section in particular are very steep, with some kilometres reaching double-digit gradients. At the end, the route becomes somewhat flatter and even includes a short downhill section.
