On Thursday we rode from our hotel in Les Deux Alpes (tracing part of the route the peloton would take between their two climbs of Alpe D'Huez and then we climbed Alpe D'Huez. It was quite a scene with thousands of spectators lining the road. At one point I stopped to take a photo and one of the other folks on our trip also stopped. While waiting for me to take my picture a couple of very drunk Polish spectators helped him out by lubricating his rear cluster with Belgian beer. When he objected they offered to rinse it off with their own home brew vodka! Here is the photo I took:
Finally, here is the Strava record:
A little bit further up the climb we met some friendly Gendarme's (by no means a normal occurrence!) and I got a picture of them.
Once I fought myself to the very end of the climb (through awesome crowds of spectators) I was able to join our group at a restaurant about 300m beyond the finish line. As I walked around the village of Alpe D'Huez I git a coupe of pictures that give you some idea of the atmosphere.
Here is a shot of the podium just beyond the finish line.
We had to wait several hours for the peloton to make it to Alpe D'Huez on their first circuit. I had a good view of them passing by.
Here is Quintana reaching Alpe D'Huez.
Here is Marcus Burghardt (Team BMC):
Here is Chris Froome with a little help from his friends...
After passing Alpe D'Huez the first time the riders descended Col de la Sarenne (a pretty treacherous descent!) and then cycled back to the bottom of Alpe D'Huez to climb to the finish.
Here is Chris Froome about 40 meters from the finish line.
After the race ended and we were able to escape the really big crowds we headed to Col de la Sarenne to descend as the rider had. Here is a picture at the top of the Col.
Finally, here is the Strava record:
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