Description
L'Alpe d'Huez represents the pinnacle of cycling achievement, and has served as the penultimate hurdle for competitors in the Tour de France 25 times since 1952. With 21 hairpin turns and an average gradient of 8.1 percent, L'Alpe d'Huez stands as a legendary rite of passage. In this authoritative book, cycling historian Jean-Paul Vespini describes the experience of this remarkable challenge, and recounts the ascents of many cycling legends, including Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, Greg Lemond, and Lance Armstrong. Weaving these feats of athleticism with little-known cycling lore and full-color photography, this fascinating history embodies the most treasured aspect of Le Tour: physical prowess and determination.
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If there is one mountain climb that embodies the spirit and magic of the Tour de France, it is the Alpe d'Huez. Its twenty-one hairpin turns and average gradient of 8.1 percent over 13.1 kilometers have become legendary, changing the careers of Americans Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong, and nearly destroying Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani. Here at last is the definitive history and unforgettable story of cycling's greatest challenge. In The Tour is Won on the Alpe: The Classic Battles of the Tour de France, cycling historian Jean-Paul Vespini tells the story of this celebrated climb and the mountain that so often acts as the ultimate arbiter for cycling's biggest prize. Each chapter covers one ascent, starting with Fausto Coppi's astonishing victory in 1952. Cycling's most famous names are all present and accounted for: Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Pedro Delgado, Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, and of course the American victors Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong. Jean-Paul Vespini's riveting descriptions of each battle to the top include candid interviews with riders, new insight into epic rivalries, and little-known but fascinating facts about the climb that has become a rite of passage for every rider in the peloton.
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