Alpe d'Huez: The Story of Pro Cycling's Greatest Climb

(Paperback)

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Description

It has been called the Tour de France's 'Hollywood climb', and there is no doubt that Alpe d'Huez has played a starring role in cycling's history since its first encounter with the sport back in 1952 when the legendary Fausto Coppi triumphed on the summit. Re-introduced to the Tour in 1976, Alpe d'Huez has risen to mythical status, thanks initially to a string of victories by riders from Holland, whose exploits attracted tens of thousands of their compatriots to the climb, which has become known as 'Dutch mountain'.

A snaking 13.8-kilometre ascent rising up through 21 numbered hairpins at an average gradient of 7.8%, Alpe d'Huez is the climb on which every great rider wants to win. Many of the sport's most famous and now even infamous names have won on the Alpe, including Bernard Hinault, Joop Zoetemelk, Lucho Herrera, Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong. As well as days of brilliance, there have controversies such as the high-speed and drug-fuelled duels of the EPO years in the 1990s and into the new millennium.

This is a tale of man and machine battling against breath-taking terrain for the ultimate prize.

Reviews

A thorough explanation of why Alpe d'Huez can now claim to be the best known climb in cycling

Cossins meticulously describes every hairpin of [Alpe dHuez] with history and colour these are the kind of tales on which cycling thrives.

'an interesting and revealing account of the great climb'

'peter cossins has planned and authored this book almost to perfection. his prose, pacing and research are admirable to say the least... and yes, he may be right, alpe d'huez could very well be cycling's greatest climb.'

'an interesting and revealing account of the great climb'

the highly accessible prose and sheer joy of the writing could tempt even the most casual Sunday cyclists If any one single climb deserves a book all to itself, its the Alpe dHuez

'an enjoyable and informative read, loaded with Tour anecdotes and extra-sporting stories'

Cossins meticulously describes every hairpin of [Alpe dHuez] with history and colour these are the kind of tales on which cycling thrives.

A thorough explanation of why Alpe d'Huez can now claim to be the best known climb in cycling

Author Bio

First drawn into the sport while a student in Spain in the mid-1980s, PETER COSSINS has been writing about cycling since 1993. He has covered more than a dozen editions of the Tour de France and spent three years as editor of Procycling magazine and the last five as contributing editor to that title. In 2012 he collaborated with Tour de France winner Stephen Roche on his autobiography, Born to Ride. The Monuments, his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, when he also translated former French pro Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break. Resident in Ilkley, he is the co-author of Two Days in Yorkshire, a review of the 2014 Tour's Grand Depart in the county.