The Tour de France at Alpe d'Huez

We will be going to see the Tour on two days:

23 July on the Alpe d'Huez climb (14km at 8.8%)

24 July on the Col de Perenie (5km at 7%)

Alpe d'Huez

It's always a great occasion to see the Tour on Alpe d'Huez. The atmosphere is electric and some of the spectators are more juiced up than the riders, especially nowadays, when the riders have to be more careful, or make sure it's good stuff. It's not like the good old days.

We get an early start from St.Nazaire-en-Royans and drive to Vizille where we park up and ride the 30km to Bourg d'Oisans. After juicing up on cakes and extra-strong black coffee we ride up the road to Alpe d'Huez with a short pause at the 'Dutch Corner' where the World takes on a rather orange shade. There's a Dutch disco and a bar selling beer and stuff.

Depending on how it goes we sometimes get as far as the third hairpin before the resort of Alpe d'Huez where we can get a good view of the riders, and grab some souvenirs from the Caravan.

Col de Perenie

The Col de Perenie is 78km from the start at Bourg d'Oisans and at only 40km from St.Nazaire-en-Royans is an easy ride. It climbs out of the small town of Tullins which is one of our favourite lunch stops.

We'll head off after breakfast and ride through the hills to a good location on the climb where the crowd will be more local than at Alpe d'Huez. Afterwards we'll head down to Tullins for a cafe stop and a cake then head back along the Isere valley to St.Nazaire to catch the end of the stage on the TV.