“Vous êtes des criminels!” Octave Lapize is said to have shouted in the general direction of race organisers at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet. Lapize would go on to win the 1910 Tour de France, but he was extremely annoyed he had to climb a mountain to do it.
It was the first time a mountain pass had ever been included in the Tour’s route, a decision considered downright sadistic by riders at the time. The Tourmalet has since become an integral part of its story, featuring more than any other mountain climb, and on Saturday it will be ridden for the 91st time when the peloton traces the same Pyrenean roads that peeved Lapize 115 years ago.
Both sides of the Tourmalet are brutes to climb, but the longer western ascent being tackled by this year’s peloton is the more common approach. It is steep, at 7.4% average gradient, but what makes it so gruelling is the feeling that it might never end, going on for 19km, when the 20km leading to the foot of the climb are all incline too. The wind blows hard and, in mid-July at southern tip of France, it is usually ridden in hideous heat, though the weekend’s forecast is not quite so intense.
“It’s a b****r,” says Luke Rowe, the former Ineos and Team Sky road captain who marshalled Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas to glory in the yellow jersey. “But it’s an iconic part of the Tour de France. You ask someone who watches the Tour, ‘Name me three climbs’, they’d all mention the Tourmalet.”
There were many times when Rowe led the entire peloton to the foot of the climb, setting the pace, although he was usually left behind by the summit.
“There’s no easy way of going up,” says Rowe, who is joining TNT Sports’ live coverage from stage 16 to Paris. “Whether you’re riding a Tour de France and are amongst the fittest 0.1 per cent of the planet’s population, or whether you’re a club rider, it’s tough. It’s very exposed, there’s not a lot of cover, and the temperature often plays a factor. You can easily cook yourself up there. It can make or break your race.”
Tourmalet is just one part of a merciless stage 14 which also features the Col d’Aspin and Col de Peyresourde, all part of the series of mountain passes at the heart of the Pyrenees known dramatically as the ‘Circle of Death’. That trio is just the warm-up before the final 12.4km hors-categorie climb to the summit finish at Superbagneres.
After the past two days, in which Tadej Pogacar first destroyed his rivals on the road to Hautacam and then ripped up the mountain time trial to extend his vast lead over Jonas Vingegaard to more than four minutes, he may be tempted by the lure writing more history on the Tourmalet, and by the prize of the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, awarded to the first rider over the 2,115m summit.
From Lapize’s fury in 1910, to Eddy Merckx’s dominant performances on the mountain in 1969 and 1974, to Bernard Hinault v Greg Lemond in 1986, and Thibaut Pinot’s emotional stage win in 2019 when the climb was used as a rare summit finish, the Tourmalet is steeped in historic moments. But Rowe has ridden alongside the yellow jersey on the Tourmalet stage before, and he advises caution.
“I think the best way to stamp his authority is cross the finish line first, not attack on a certain climb because it’s got an iconic name. If I’m UAE, then if Visma want to put the pressure on, just let them ride. Just sit there. There’s only one guy from their team you’ve got to follow. Wait, wait, wait, and attack 3k from the finish line. There’s no reason to do more. You’ve got that gap – now it’s just about preservation.”
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 15 is going to be a long one with more than five hours in the saddle for most riders. It is scheduled to start at around 11.15am BST and finish between 4-4.30pm, depending on the pace of the race.
Prediction
Of course there is an obvious answer, here. Tadej Pogacar is the best rider in the peloton on just about any terrain and a brutal mountain stage like this one will only accentuate his dominance over the rest, should he choose to show it. That may ultimately come down to Visma-Lease a Bike and whether they are willing to push his buttons – and whether Jonas Vingegaard feels fresh enough to attack – or whether they would rather keep their powder dry for the Alps in the hope Pogacar’s form somehow tails off in the Tour’s final week.
If the GC race is a little less frantic then that opens up a real opportunity for the breakaway. The winner will need phenomenal climbing legs, so it’s worth looking to riders such as Carlos Rodriguez, Ben O’Connor and Mattias Skjelmose who are more than 20 minutes behind Pogacar overall and therefore might be allowed to escape up the road and compete for the stage win. Simon and Adam Yates are also well down the GC field, though they may have more pressing duties looking after their team leaders Vingegaard and Pogacar respectively.
My pick is Enric Mas, the Spanish Movistar rider who has four podium finishes at the Vuelta a Espana and one stage win at his home grand tour. Mas has never won a stage of the Tour de France, but the 30-year-old is an excellent climber and his 24-minute deficit on GC gives him plenty of space to get away. “A stage win would be great,” Mas said after falling down the overall rankings following a tough stage 12 on Thursday. “But I’d also like to get a good result in the GC, so I hope both things happen. I’m going for it.”
The challenge for the breakaway will be building a big enough lead over Pogacar at the base of the day’s final climb to beat the yellow jersey to the summit finish at Superbagneres. Given Pogacar’s form, even a three or four-minute headstart might not be enough.
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