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La Rosière (France) – A dense crowd, an incredible fervor, an eternal glory awaiting the winner at the top of the 21 laces: Alpe d'Huez, arrival of the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, remains a mythical climbs that make the legend of the Great Loop.
" All climbers dream of winning the Alpe ", explains the French Pierre Rolland, who raised his arms in 2011 at the top of the climb. Between Fausto Coppi, Luis Herrera, Bernard Hinault and Marco Pantani, the biggest names in cycling have made their mark.
However, " is certainly not the hardest nor the longest pbad, it is a climb that is only 13.8 kilometers ," says Christophe Riblon, who wrote one of the pages of the myth of Alpe d'Huez in 2013, at the price of a return on the American Tejay van Garderen, he had exceeded two kilometers from the finish.
This year, however, the rise of the Alpe comes at the end of the three high mountain stages in the Alps with riders who will already have the Madeleine and the Iron Cross in the legs.
" Compared to the Tourmalet, the Ventoux or the Galibier, it's not the same thing, there are longer, harder pbades that come higher. reference, it is mythical ", continues the former rider of AG2R La Mondiale who, at 37, follows the race today for the organization of the Tour.
" As soon as we talk about cycling, we are asked if we did the Tour de France and if we went up the Alpe d'Huez, these are the first two questions that come "he adds.
– A legend at 1850 meters –
All the ingredients are gathered along the 21 turns for a legend at 1,850 meters of altitude.
Starting with popular fervor, measurable before, during and after the Tour de France. " At the start of the Tour, we already had pictures of motorhomes that had settled two weeks before ," notes Riblon. History of not missing anything of the show.
During the stage, the Republican Guard bikers sometimes have trouble seeing where they put their wheel, so the crowd is dense and the spectators do not move apart until the last moment. Especially at the turn of the Dutch, where fans gather with the risk of overflowing.
Thursday, security will be strengthened for the occasion. With, for the first time, the contribution of private security agents of the organization.
" There will not be much space ", fears the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), one of the favorites of the Tour, who will tackle his second climb of " Dutch mountain "in different conditions from the first. " I climbed quietly at my own pace, enjoying the fans and the whole atmosphere, it will not be so Thursday ".
" When I see the images on TV, I wonder where I got to go, but on the bike, we do not ask ourselves, I trust people, they go dismiss "recalls Riblon, who points out:" it takes part in the magic of the Tour de France and this rise. "
For the winner, the success guarantees an extraordinary media exposure . " I did not experience it as if there was a before and after victory at Alpe d'Huez, I did not feel stronger or more legitimate, but the solicitations are enormous. Another five years later ", remarks Riblon, who had already signed a prestigious success three years earlier in the Pyrenean station of Ax-3-Domaines.
" The fact that I wrote my last name in the history books of the bike is a great pride for me ," he adds.
And not only in the history books, since each winner at the Alpe inscribed his name in one of the 21 mythical turns. A bit like the winner of Kitzbühel in downhill skiing has his own gondola.
The Frenchman shares his turn with the Dutchman Peter Winnen, winner for the first time in 1981, the year of birth of Riblon.
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