The mountains
Legendary climbs
Every Tour is decided on a handful of roads. Here are the giants of the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central — numbers, history and how they ride.
Directory
The giants
Alpe d'Huez
1,850 mIsère, French Alps
Length
13.8 km
Average
8.1%
Max
13%
Twenty-one numbered hairpins, each named after a stage winner, rising out of Bourg-d'Oisans. Not the hardest climb in France, but the loudest: the Dutch Corner at bend seven turns orange every July and the whole mountain functions as an amphitheatre.
Mont Ventoux
1,910 mVaucluse, Provence
Length
21.5 km
Average
7.5%
Max
12%
The Giant of Provence: a lone limestone dome that stands apart from any range. Six kilometres of forest at 9%, then a lunar summit where the mistral funnels across bare white scree and the temperature swings 20°C in an hour.
Col du Tourmalet
2,115 mHautes-Pyrénées
Length
19 km
Average
7.4%
Max
10.2%
The Tour's spiritual home in the Pyrenees. Octave Lapize crossed it in 1910 and called the organisers assassins; the Géant du Tourmalet statue at the top has watched the race climb it more than any other mountain.
Col du Galibier
2,642 mSavoie / Hautes-Alpes
Length
18.1 km
Average
6.9%
Max
12.1%
The roof of the Tour in most editions it appears. Henri Desgrange's monument sits near the summit, and above 2,400 m the thin air turns any attack into a survival test.
Col d'Izoard
2,360 mHautes-Alpes
Length
14.1 km
Average
7.3%
Max
10%
The Casse Déserte — a moonscape of shattered rock spires near the top — is the most photographed stretch of road in the Alps. Memorials to Coppi and Bobet sit beside it.
Col de la Loze
2,304 mSavoie
Length
21.5 km
Average
7.8%
Max
24%
The Tour's newest monster: a cycle path grafted onto the top of a ski resort, with irregular ramps that spike above 20% and no rhythm at all. Roglič lost the 2020 Tour's aura here a day before he lost the yellow jersey.
Col du Granon
2,413 mHautes-Alpes
Length
11.3 km
Average
9.2%
Max
12%
A brutal, exposed military road with no switchback relief. Used only twice, it produced two Tour-deciding days: Bernard Hinault losing yellow in 1986 and Pogačar cracking spectacularly in 2022.
Puy de Dôme
1,415 mAuvergne
Length
13.3 km
Average
7.7%
Max
13%
A dormant volcano whose final 4 km spiral around the cone at a relentless 12%. Closed to the Tour for 35 years after a rack railway was built, it returned in 2023 with no spectators allowed on the upper slopes.