Cyclist
The 5 hardest Grand Tour stages of the last 10 years
Mountain stages are the hardest days in the saddle at cycling’s Grand Tours, with punishing slopes and ridiculous gradients producing the suffering that makes Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España the world’s hardest races.
While in recent years organisers have reduced distances on the toughest mountain days, there are still some behemoths every now and then that make fans long for days gone by.
Here are the five stages from the past decade that have packed in the most elevation gain.
5. Tour de France 2018, Stage 12: Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs to Alpe d’Huez (175km, 5362m)
It was a showdown between some huge names. Stage 12 of the 2018 Tour de France packed three huge hors categorie climbs in just 175km, the Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix de Fer (with a quick stop off at the picturesque Lacets de Montvernier) preceding the summit finish atop the mythical Alpe d’Huez.
Steven Kruijswijk of LottoNL-Jumbo broke away from the breakaway and had carved out a six-minute gap at the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer, one that slowly began decreasing through the 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d’Huez.
Tried as he might on an almost-70km solo effort, eventually the five big contenders Chris Froome, Geraint Thomas, Romain Bardet, Tom Dumoulin and Mikel Landa would fight for the stage win. Riding in the yellow jersey, Thomas powered ahead to win his second consecutive stage and become the first British rider to win on Alpe d’Huez.
It was also a day that saw Bahrain Merida’s Vincenzo Nibali crash out of the race with a broken vertebrae as Andre Greipel, Fernando Gaviria and Dylan Groenewegen were forced to abandon the race due to its brutality, following Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish, who dropped out the day before – which itself packed in two HC climbs as well as the Category 2 Cormet de Roselend and a Category 1 summit finish to La Rosière.
4. Tour de France 2023, Stage 17: Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel (166km, 5399m)
The most recent entry on the list, the day kicked off with a duo of Category 1 climbs in the Col de Saises and Cormet de Roselend but the final ascent was the sting in the tail. The Col de la Loze, peaking at 2,300m, was the Souvenir Henri Desgrange – the highest point of the race – and took riders up almost 2,000 metres in just over 28km through the ski havens of Courchevel and Méribel.
AG2R-Citroën’s Felix Gall reached the top first in front of the peloton having launched a solo attack for glory on the climb and was flying on his debut at the Tour. Behind, GC drama had ignited as UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar cracked, jersey unzipped as the famous words, ‘I’m gone, I’m dead’ came over the radio while Jonas Vingegaard rode away to all-but-confirm his second Tour de France title.
Gall was being chased down by Simon Yates of Jayco-AlUla on the short descent to the finish but evaded his clutches. It was a spectacular, gruelling day that set off fireworks both at the front of the race and in the general classification.
3. Vuelta a España 2016, Stage 14: Urdax-Dantxarinea to Aubisque-Gourette (196km, 5575m)
A trio of Category 1 climbs before a hors categorie finish atop the Col d’Aubisque was on the menu for the Queen Stage of the 2016 Vuelta a España. A 40-man breakaway formed just prior to the first ascent of the day, the 18.2km Col Inharpu. That was just a warmup though as the climbs kept coming with the long 24.2km Col de Soudet and 10.1km Col de Marie Blanque following.
By the end of the day, the contenders for the stage win were whittled down to just Robert Gesink, Kenny Elissonde and Egor Silin. After being denied by Nairo Quintana just a few days prior, Gesink distanced his competitors and grabbed his first Grand Tour stage win.
2. Giro d’Italia 2023, Stage 16: Sabbio Chiese to Monte Bondone (203km, 5852m)
The day might not have looked the most insane on paper, but Stage 16 of the 2023 Giro d’Italia featured almost 5,900m of climbing and came after the last rest day. Five categorised climbs were to be covered, including one final punishing test of Monte Bondone.
UAE Team Emirates set a leg-breaking pace up the last ascent, distancing the maglia rosa Bruno Armirail. João Almeida and Geraint Thomas (he’s good at these) broke away in the last 6km and distanced rival Primož Roglič, who limited his losses thanks to the help of Sepp Kuss.
Almeida won his first Grand Tour stage as Thomas moved (back) to the top of the general classification.
1. Giro d’Italia 2016, Stage 14: Alpago to Corvara (210km, 6001m)
Here it is, the Grand Tour stage with the most climbing metres of the past decade. Stage 14 of the 2016 Giro d’Italia was a lengthy affair at 210km from Alpago to Corvara, and a punishing one too. Boasting over 6,000m of climbing, the peloton tackled the Queen Stage with Andrey Amador of Movistar leading the race.
It was a who’s who of classic Dolomites climbs that those who have ridden the Maratona dles Dolomites will know all too well. Riders scaled Passo Pordoi, Passo Sella, Passo Gardena, Passo Campolongo, Passo Giau, the Passo Valparola and finished with the short kicker to La Villa.
Steven Kruijswijk attacked on the Passo Valparola as behind Esteban Chaves cracked Vincenzo Nibali. The win would be decided between Kruijswijk, Chaves, Giant-Alpecin’s Georg Preidler and BMC’s Darwin Atapuma. Chaves launched his sprint, a slower-than-usual affair given the toll on the legs, but held out to win after over six of cycling’s most demanding hours.
The post The 5 hardest Grand Tour stages of the last 10 years appeared first on Cyclist.