Road Bike Racing - Stage 16, 2004 Tour de France

The Time Trial from Bourg d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez looks like it will be spectacular. Not only will the spectators get an extended view of the cyclists on such a classic climb, but it will probably decide who will win the GC.

Has anyone ridden this climb ? What advice would you have about when to get there - how many days beforehand would the prime spots get taken. When would they close the road to cyclists. Are there any recommendations for accomodation in Bourg d'Oisans. Are there any good web-sites that describe this climb ?

The Time Trial from Bourg d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez looks like it will be spectacular. Not only will the spectators get an extended view of the cyclists on such a classic climb, but it will probably decide who will win the GC.

Has anyone ridden this climb ? What advice would you have about when to get there - how many days beforehand would the prime spots get taken. When would they close the road to cyclists. Are there any recommendations for accomodation in Bourg d'Oisans. Are there any good web-sites that describe this climb ?

Last year, there are an estimated 600,000 fans on D'Huez. Arriving at 7 in the AM (leaving at 3am to get there) and returing at 11 that evening made for a very long day. Due to the nature of this year's stage, I'd guess that they can find another 300,000 or so. And remember, this area is pretty much one lane roads. And once it is over, everyone wants to go home, at the same time.
It depends on what you want to see....regardless of where you stand to watch, the riders will be coming by one by one.
If you want to be near the finish (which is mostly blocked off by areas reserved for the connected), I'd leave tomorrow(kidding). But I'd find a spot near a big screen TV, or find a good tour group that has reservations to be in the finishing area (so you can be connected)...for real fun, find a big bunch of Dutch fans. They are the ones to party with at a cycling event.

Haven't been there, but if I went there I would probably do it as a loop: Climbing Alpe d'Huez and descending down the Col de Sarenne (see the attached map). Col de Sarenne looks nice (http://www.cycling.uk.net/alps/saren.htm) and should carry much less traffic making it a more relaxed and maybe even faster descent than the main road after the race (especially if you get a spot high on the Alpe).

A couple of Alpe d'Huez links:

http://www.montivagus.de/e_fpalp.html
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~gsoto/fr_ride1.htm (and Col de Sarenne (http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~gsoto/fr_ride3a.htm))

/Csson

Thanks Csson. Your links provided interesting reading about Alpe d'Huez.

Like roadwarrior wrote, it will probably be terribly crowded on the Alpe on that particular day. Plus you will probably lack the information that television viewers are getting regarding the time trial.

A great way of ‘doing’ the Alp (and the Galibier and some other serious obstacles), by the way, is the semi-competetive ‘cyclosportif’ Marmotte (http://www.la-marmotte.com/). I hope to be able to participate in 2005.

Of course, Bruco, you get more information from the TV coverage, but none of the atmosphere. Surely this will be the most exciting stage of the 2004 Tour.

Like roadwarrior wrote, it will probably be terribly crowded on the Alpe on that particular day. Plus you will probably lack the information that television viewers are getting regarding the time trial.

A great way of ‘doing’ the Alp (and the Galibier and some other serious obstacles), by the way, is the semi-competetive ‘cyclosportif’ Marmotte (http://www.la-marmotte.com/). I hope to be able to participate in 2005.

Bruco is right. Any mountain stage is just packed and a lot of the viewers go up the day before with tents. Using a car is out of the question. Alp d'Huez is the worst of them all.

"La Marmotte" is a brutal race with something like 15,000ft of climb and there some very good bicyclists doing it. I've done it twice and haven't really been happy with the results. It is as hard as any single mountain stage of the Tour de France, the basic difference is the fact that those guys have to go out and do the same thing the next day and the day after that and the...

c.j.monty