…ride to the summit early in the morning and spectate?

I’m aware that there may be a few others around, with it being Bastille Day and all. Realistic or just too crazy busy?

Or to camp on the slopes? How many days beforehand might one need to get there?

i was hoping to do the same on alp dhuez day at 5am……

the more i talk to folks that have been the more it sounds like a bad idea.

On the 5live preview the other night they reckoned there would be a 100,000 people on Alp D’huez

are they going to be sensible and put barriers up?

The times i have been people are riding up all day and getting cheered along the way. Go for it!

Probably need to be there 3/4 days before to camp it will be rammed with camper vans and drunken Dutch fans !

are they going to be sensible and put barriers up?

I hope not. Not saying I want any fans interfering with riders but the crowd opening up in front of the lead rider is one of the iconic images in sport.

100,000 on Alpe d’Huez ?!?! It will be way more than that.

We’re cycling up at the crack of dawn for stage 15.

I did it nearly thirty years ago. We naively arrived in Bourg D’Oissons the night before having ridden over the Galibier still expecting to find somewhere to stay/camp. Over a crêpe, our waiter told us to try a ski school in town. We slept on a floor, were up at dawn and spun up the Alp. We had all our touring gear and folks cheered us up and gave us water. We hung out near the top with thousands of other fans to see Robert Millar finish third. Top day. Do it.

Stage 18 for us, up super early and riding in from the Lautaret.

Nice steady 20 mile descent to start the day!

Great story Mc. That’s inspired me.

As a measure of how chronically disorganised I am, I’ve not even booked a ferry to Calais yet, or spoken to the neighbours about looking after puss while we’re away.

Vickypea – you staying nearby or driving in early?

the crowd opening up in front of the lead rider is one of the iconic images in sport.

makes me nervous though. one day a major stage/ race will be ruined by some over-excited dickhead dressed as a banana.

In my experience it is no problem, as long as you aren’t trying to get up with anything else than a bicycle. I wouldn’t try and spectate at the very summit. Find a good spot near the top. I don’t think you need to get up at 5am in all honesty either.

the crowd opening up in front of the lead rider is one of the iconic images in sport.
makes me nervous though. one day a major stage/ race will be ruined by some over-excited dickhead dressed as a banana.

Ruined or improved? It’s crazy stuff like this that makes the TDF so watchable. I’ve always loved watching the old guy dressed as the devil running alongside the riders with his pitchfork. Nothing like a bit of drama to make things watchable – for example the big peloton crashes in the first few days of the race certainly make the otherwise boring flat stages a lot more exciting.

im staying in embrun to watch the stages down there so i probably have to 😉

Made it…

Untitled by stuartie_c, on Flickr

Logistically, pretty straghtforward. Find a campsite nearby (there are hunners) a couple of days beforehand. Ride up the mountain on the day of the race. Not too early or you’ll be sitting around for hours; not too late or it’s too busy and the gendarmes start to close the road. I got to within 800m of the finish at a great spot where Chris Froome had just accelerated away from Nairo Quintana. Absolutely thrilling spectacle and a highly recommended day out.

Rode from Vaison la Romain via Bedoin (i.e. on the race route) because other route up the mountain from Malaucene was closed a few kms from the summit. VERY busy, long, hot, steep in places but a brilliant atmosphere all the way up. Getting back off the hill is a bit of a rammy though…

DO IT if you get the chance!

That mountain would have been an amazing and eerie place without that road and all that crap on top.

Way to put a downer on a guy’s day out, dude. 😉

Fantastic! Sounds like an amazing day, brah!

* snorts contemptuously at Molly’s post and is jealous *

That mountain would have been an amazing and eerie place without that road and all that crap on top

If it wasn’t for the french navy it would just be a forest. How dull.

That sounds like a pain stu. What you should have done is just waited in the town that the race started in that day and then set off half an hour before the riders do, ride the route to the top of the mountain and then wait for the racers to come along.

(I’m just jealous really)

And miss the caravan?!

HALF an hour? Pah! No challenge to that.

I was just pleased that I took a little over twice as much time as Chris Froome to get up the bloody thing (I wasn’t really trying though…)

Forested on the summit?

As the name might suggest (venteux means windy in French), it can get windy at the summit, especially with the mistral; wind speeds as high as 320 km/h (200 mph) have been recorded.

Not many trees would survive that, I reckon.

I don’t wish to be overly miserable, I just love imagining familiar places as the wild places of years ago.

I like it when a thread gets an ending, glad you had a great day OP.

Expand please… wiki has failed me.

If it wasn’t for the french navy it would just be a forest. How dull.

A brilliant day out. Inspiring!!

Cut the trees down to make ships innit.