Tour de France in the Alps – Galibier, l’Alpe d’Huez and Announcement

Above is a poster showing the Tour de France riders climbing towards the Col du Lauteret in the Alps. This poster used to be hanging on the wall in my cubicle at work. I looked at it many times and it was always an inspiration. Col du Lautaret is on a ridge that separates the Northern Alps and the Southern Alps.

Col du Lautaret, photo courtesy Russell Stranding

On Thursday 21 July, 2011, for the 18th Stage, the Tour de France riders will get close to the Col du Lautaret on their way to the Col du Galibier. The Col du Galibier will be the highest ever finish location for the Tour - at an altitude of 2645 meters (8,678 feet) reached after a 23 kms ascent (14.28 miles.) The stage totals 5,180 meters (17,000 feet) of climbing. This is an historical climb as the original tour organizer, Henri Desgrange, first added the crossing of the Galibier one hundred years ago in the 1911 Tour de France. Émile Georget who won the stage in 1911 took over 13 hours to complete the route. The main riders had to go through six feet high walls of snow – some riders even had to walk. Henri Desgrange wrote in his newspaper L’Auto : “ Are these men not winged, who today climbed to heights where even eagles don't go, and crossed Europe's highest summits? They rose so high they seemed to dominate the world!”

Picture of Émile Georget in 1912 (Wikipedia)

In July 2009 I wrote a post on the Tour de France called “What is the Tour de France” explaining its history – you can read it here.

But in short, the origins of the Tour de France go back to Henri Desgrange (1865-1940) who was a legal clerk in the 1890s in France. He was an amateur racing cyclist also. When he became the editor of a magazine called “L’Auto” he conceived the idea with another journalist, Géo Lefèvre, to organize a 2500 kms. (1553+ miles) cycle race around France so their magazine could report on it. Thus was born the world's greatest and most famous bicycle race.

Henri Desgrange on the cover of Voila July 7, 1934

The road to the Galibier was built from 1880 to 1891 and has been part of 57 stages in the Tour.

Road near Galibier, photo courtesy Christophe Ena

The Tour de France started Saturday July 2nd, 2011, and will end on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on July 24th, 2011. This year it is made up of 21 stages covering a distance of 3,430.5 kilometres (2131.6 miles.) The stages are set up to test different skills and endurance and include flat stages, 1 team time-trial stage, 1 individual time-trial stage, medium and high mountain stages with summit finishes. Some stages venture into bordering countries – this year the countries were Spain and Italy. Next year in 2012 (the 99th Tour) the Tour de France will start in Liège, Belgium.

Route of the 2011 Tour de France

I get up early every morning to watch the Tour live on television. I especially enjoy the views shown from the helicopters flying over the Tour. The scenery is beautiful and so varied. I tried to take some photos from the television, but the pictures are not as good as from the televisions in France and Belgium, since it is another system.




Because of the 100th anniversary of the race to the peak of Galibier the emphasis this year for the Tour is in the Alps. Some cyclists will have a difficult time climbing the steep hills and the yellow jersey may pass to another racer. This is what the leaders’ jerseys mean: the Yellow jersey (maillot jaune) is worn by the over-all Tour de France leader. The Green jersey (maillot vert) is the sprinter jersey with the highest number of sprint points. The White with Red Polka Dots jersey is the “king of the mountain” jersey awarded to the best climber in the stage and the White jersey is awarded to the best young rider, under 25 years of age. The jerseys are awarded to riders at the end of each stage. So far Thomas Voeckler of France has been wearing the yellow jersey since Stage no. 9.

Thomas Voeckler was born in the Alsace region of France in 1979. His father was a psychiatrist and his mother is an anesthesiologist. When he was 7 years old his parents decided to go to the island of Martinique in the Caribbean so that his father could use his sailing boat and enter boat races and cross the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately in 1992 his father was lost at sea with his sail boat. Thomas joined a cyclist club in Martinique when he was 12 years old. When he was 17 years old he came back to France for his studies. He became a professional cyclist in 2001. He is not a strong climber so he may have to surrender the yellow jersey after the tough stage to the Galibier peak which is followed by the Alpe d’Huez the next day.

Thomas Voeckler on the podium receiving the Yellow Jersey on 14 July, 2011

The Tour de France has riders from many countries. I do not have a favorite rider – I watch the way they ride and support the ones I think did a good “job of work” as the TV announcers say. After watching the Tour for so many years I know some of the riders well, such as Thor Hushovd from Norway, Frank and Andy Schleck from Luxemburg, Cadel Evans from Australia, Philippe Gilbert of Belgium, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, Tyler Farrar of the USA, Mark Cavendish of the UK and big George Hincapie from Greenville, South Carolina (who is married to a French woman.)

Thor Hushovd of Norway winning the Stage in Lourdes

The Tour de France is really a prestigious race followed by fans from all over the world. Thousands of fans line the route, some sleeping in tents in fields nearby and other bringing their campers from stage to stage. At the top of mountains when the riders are approaching huge crowds get close to them on the road, some wearing outlandish clothes, like a German fan called “el Diablo.” I always worry that someone will get in the way and a rider may fall – accidents happen often as it is.

Friday, July 22, 2011, will be Stage 19 which ends in l’Alpe d’Huez. Alpe d’Huez is a winter and summer resort nicknamed “the island of the sun” as it averages 300 days of sun per year. It is an hour away from Grenoble, two hours from Lyon and two and a half from Geneva. Panoramic viewpoints show one fifth of the French territory with the Mont Blanc, Mont Ventoux, the Massif Central, Switzerland and Italy. This is a very important and popular stage and where the Tour can be won or lost.




The first winner of the Alpe d’Huez stage was Fausto Coppi in 1952. We did not have a television then but I remember hearing about it on the radio. Coppi (1919-1960) was a “Campionissimo” a super-champion. He was the first to win the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France the same year. He won many races but unfortunately died prematurely from malaria which he had caught in Africa. Below is a book on Fausto Coppi.




The formidable 21 laces which go to the Alpe d’Huez are relentless for runners; many of them are afraid of this climb which brings failures for those who cannot stand high altitude and whose legs become weak. It is a tough stage and a thrilling one to watch. Just 4 more days to watch the Tour – Thursday to Sunday then I’ll watch TV rarely until next July. By Friday though, after the Alpe d’Huez stage, we may get a better idea about the expected winner of the Tour de France. The winner will get 450,000 Euros (the purse total is 3.2 million Euros awarded to the top team and riders i.e. US $4.565 million.)




While watching the Tour de France every day I knit or crochet a baby blanket. So far I have done 14 of them. Last year I knitted one for a friend of my daughter. He requested a blanket looking like the French flag, so this is what I did. I also crocheted a small car seat blanket – they are below.




This year I knitted a rainbow blanket because my daughter was expecting another baby. It is already finished and I brought it with me to Nashville last week.




I was pleased that it was finished because …….ANNOUNCEMENT - we had another grandson, born last Wednesday, July 13th. He is a strong boy of 9 lbs 4 oz. I know he is strong because as I was holding him last Saturday he lifted his head away from me – which is unusual for a 3-days old infant. Now at 5 days old, last Monday, he went with his parents from Tennessee to Florida – he may become a traveler like many in his family.

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Course Cycliste 1902, Georges Duchesne, French