Cycling stops in French Alps
2 routes · France
No mountains carry more of cycling's mythology per kilometre. The Tour has been deciding itself on these roads since 1911, and the names need no introduction: the numbered virages of Alpe d'Huez, the balcony roads of the Maurienne, the high passes that stay snowbound into June and host the race in July.
Coverage starts on the ladders. Alpe d'Huez counts its bends down from twenty-one as you climb, and the Lacets de Montvernier fold eighteen more into two kilometres of cliff face above the Maurienne.