30 information concerning the Col du Tourmalet | Cyclingnews.com

The legendary Col du Tourmalet climb has been a part of the race since 1910 when it was first launched in stage 10 by race director Henri Desgrange because the capstone to what could be known as the “Circle of Death”: the Pyrenean foursome of the Col de Peyresourde, Col d’Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and the Col d’Aubisque.

Fifty-nine courageous souls set out that July twenty first morning to sort out the monstrous stage and the Col du Tourmalet’s mystique was born. The race will seem on stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France with a end on the Pla d’Adet.

Cyclingnews discovered 30 information concerning the iconic Col du Tourmalet’s position in Tours previous for the one hundredth anniversary of the climb’s look in 2010, and up to date this function with extra present information.

• The Col du Tourmalet made its first look in 1910 and celebrates its one hundredth anniversary as a part of the Tour de France in 2010.
• Octave Lapize was the primary rider to cross the Col du Tourmalet within the 1910 Tour de France, having to stroll a lot of the dust highway ascent. Lapize would win the stage and later the general GC, the Frenchman’s solely Tour de France triumph.
• Lapize is famous for calling Tour officers “assassins” in the course of the stage after tackling the Tourmalet.
• That first stage to make use of the Tourmalet, in 1910, was 326km lengthy and in addition climbed the Peyresourde (1,569m), the Aspin (1,489m), the Aubisque (1,709m) and the Osquich (390m). Incredibly, that stage was not the longest of the Tour in 1910. The 14th stage from Brest to Caen stretched an unbelievable 424km and was additionally received by Lapize in 14 hours and 38 minutes.
• The 2019 Tour de France’s stage 14 was the third time in Tour historical past that the Col du Tourmalet has hosted a summit end.
• La Mongie, located 4.5km beneath the Col du Tourmalet summit on the east facet, has hosted three stage finishes.
• Two statues are located on the Col du Tourmalet summit: a Jacques Goddet memorial and the Geant de Tourmalet.
• At 2,115m, the Col du Tourmalet just isn’t usually the best level of the Tour de France. It has been the Souvenir Henri Desgranges 9 occasions.
• The Col du Tourmalet has appeared in the identical Tour de France on two separate phases thrice in 1970, 1974 and 2010.
• The Col du Tourmalet is essentially the most utilized of any peak within the Tour with 60 appearances to date.
• The final rider to crest the Col du Tourmalet first and win the Tour the identical yr was Andy Schleck in 2010, though he solely received the Tour after Alberto Contador was disqualified for a optimistic doping check. Before him, Eddy Merckx was the final to handle this feat in 1969.

• Lance Armstrong received at La Mongie in 2002 as a part of his general victory, however the race did not go all the way in which to the Tourmalet summit. He misplaced that end result as a part of his lifetime ban and disqualification of his leads to 2012.
• Lance Armstrong received stage 15 in 2003, overlaying 159.5km from Bagneres de Bigorre to Luz Ardiden, which crossed the Col du Tourmalet. This stage was well-known for Armstrong crashing on the ending climb to Luz Ardiden when he was taken down by a spectator, however remounted to win the stage. He additionally misplaced this end in 2012 for doping.
• The Souvenir Jacques Goddet prime is awarded for the primary rider to cross the Col du Tourmalet summit.
• The Souvenir Henri Desgranges prime is awarded for the primary rider to cross the Tour de France’s highest summit. This yr the Tourmalet is the best peak the peloton crosses and the prime can be issued on the second ascent for the summit end of stage 17.
• There are two approaches to the Col du Tourmalet. From Luz-Saint-Sauveur, is eighteen.6km lengthy, climbing 1,404m at a median of seven.4 % with a most of 10.2 close to the summit.
• The jap ascent, from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, is 17.1 km, gaining 1,268m, a median 7.3 % with a most of 10 %.
• In 1913, Eugène Christophe’s finest probability to win the TdF was dashed when he broke his fork on the descent of the Tourmalet. He was main the race by roughly 18 minutes general when the incident occurred, however misplaced a number of hours whereas he walked down the slope till he discovered a forge in Sainte-Marie-de-Campan the place he needed to repair his fork himself because of guidelines about not receiving help. Christophe finally completed seventh general that yr.
• The Col du Tourmalet’s final look on the Tour de France was in 2023, when the climb was a part of an early entry into the Pyrenees on stage 6. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) led the breakaway over the summit.
• Spain’s Federico Bahamontes, “The Eagle of Toledo”, has crossed the Col du Tourmalet first in the course of the Tour de France on 4 separate events, essentially the most of any skilled.
• The Col du Tourmalet is the best highway within the central Pyrenees.
• France’s Jean-Pierre Danguillaume received the one earlier Col du Tourmalet summit end in 1974: the 119km, seventeenth stage beginning in St Lary Soulan. He soloed to victory in 3:58:44, besting runner-up Raymond Poulidor by 2:26.
• Jean-Pierre Danguillaume received back-to-back Tour phases in 1974, outsprinting three breakaway companions the subsequent day. Stage 18 additionally crossed the Col du Tourmalet, though Spain’s Gonzalo Aja crested the summit first. Aja completed the day in 18th, 4:49 down on Danguillaume, and the Spaniard completed in fifth general, 11:24 behind Eddy Merckx.
• The 2010 Tour de France’s stage 16 is a tribute to Eddy Merckx’s spectacular solo victory in 1969’s stage 17, by which he soloed for roughly 120km to win the stage by almost eight minutes. The 2010 route is sort of equivalent to the roads Merckx flattened 41 years in the past and takes in the identical 4 climbs in sequence: Col de Peyresourde, Col d’Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Col d’Aubisque.
• The Col du Tourmalet was a part of the 1922 Tour de France route, however snow prevented the peloton from using the climb.
• The final rider to crest the Col du Tourmalet mid-stage first and win the stage was Frenchman Richard Virenque within the fifteenth stage of the 1995 Tour de France. While Virenque led over every of the stage’s six categorised climbs on a dramatic solo victory, the stage will perpetually be remembered because the day Fabio Casartelli died from a crash on the descent of the Portet d’Aspet. Thibaut Pinot was the final rider to win the stage ending on the Tourmalet in 2019.
• Robert Millar is the one British rider to succeed in the Col du Tourmalet first in a Tour de France stage, reaching the feat in stage 10 of the 1989 Tour de France. Millar went on to win the stage, outsprinting Spain’s Pedro Delgado, to say his third and ultimate profession Tour de France stage victory.
• 1989 was a case of déjà vu for Millar, who additionally bested Pedro Delgado within the tenth stage of the 1983 Tour de France, a 201km trek by the Pyrenees ascending the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde by which Millar received his first Tour stage. Millar was overwhelmed to the Tourmalet summit by Colombia’s Patrocino Jimenez, nonetheless, the one time a Colombian has reached the Col du Tourmalet summit first in a Tour stage.
• In 1952, the legendary Fausto Coppi crested the Col du Tourmalet first in stage 18 of the Tour de France en path to victory in Pau and his second and ultimate general Tour de France win.
• Italy’s Ottavio Bottecchia wore the Tour’s yellow jersey from start-to-finish in 1924, claiming general victory by 35:36 over Luxembourg’s Nicolas Frantz. A good portion of Bottechia’s general lead was achieved on his wonderful solo victory in the course of the 326km lengthy sixth stage. Bottecchia led over every of the day’s climbs, the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde on his manner to an enormous 18:58 victory over stage runner-up Lucien Buysse.