Approximately 500 km. to the south, from Le Thillot, is the RCN campsite, beautifully located in the Alps, only 7.5 km from the town of Le Bourg-d'Oisans at the foot of Alpe d'Huez, here I would follow Vingegaard and the rest of TDF, but this turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined. I had arrived in good time so I could ride some climbs before TDF came to town.
The first day I wanted to do the climb up to the Col de Salute via Villard Notre Dame, a climb that has not been included in the TDF, even though it is right opposite Alpe d'Huez. The climb is very hard, but with some fantastic views and then there is a gravel section of 2.5 km, luckily it is not that steep. After the Col de Salute, I wanted to drive up to Alpe d'Huez via Mizoën, but 3.5 km and 250 hm up the police stood blocking the road, I hadn't seen it coming, I had seen that the traditional climb was closed due to an granfondo bike race, but the fact that they had also closed the backdoor, was a big surprise to me.
The next day I wanted to try the traditional climb with the 21 hairpin bends to Alpe d'Huez but already a few hundred meters from the campsite the roads were blocked, now it was some youth TDF, I managed to get away from there, so I could try another climb that has not been included in the TDF Col du Sabot. Again a hard and beautiful climb which ends in nothing but a beautiful view down to Lac de Grand'Maison, the descent is on bad tarmac and a bit difficult.
Now I had had enough of TDF and blocked roads, but wanted to try one last time if I could drive up the traditional road to Alpe d'Huez ,and I finally succeeded with lots of spectators who could see me shine with 10 km per hour. I had heard that you could go all the way up to about 2000 meters high, so I continued until I came to cafe La Plage des Neiges, after here I don't think you can go any further on a racing bike. On my way home I drove via ROUTE DE LA CONFESSION which is a good alternative to the traditional road down to Le Bourg-d'Oisans, you end up in Allemond, 10 km from Le Bourg-d'Oisans, but the descent is both beautiful and pleasant .
My routes:
Climbs:
Alpe d'Huez
Col du Poutran
Col de Salute
Col du Sabot
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