L'Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez takes star billing in this year's Tour de France with the peloton having to navigate its infamous 21 hairpins not once but twice in a single stage.
First used by the Tour in 1952, the Alpe had a somewhat inauspicious entrance. It was the first time the Tour had held a mountain-top finish and while the winner of the stage (Italian Fausto Coppi) could hardly have been more worthy, the press and public were unconvinced, with French sports paper L'Equipe saying it had seen nothing to encourage more summit finishes.
It took 24 years for the climb to make its second appearance, when the stage was won by Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk, starting an enduring love affair between Zoetemelk's homeland and the Alpe. Today thousands of orange-clad Dutch fans flock to hairpin seven for a party that lasts for days in the build up to the stage.
Since its reappearance, it has been rare for two editions of the race to go by without taking in the climb. Much of recent Tour legend has been played out here. Add into the mix the natural theatre of the Alpe's 21 hairpins and you have an irresistible combination.
The climb There's no soft introduction here. The opening kilometres average over 10% before hovering around 8% for the majority of the rest of the ride. The regular hairpins break the climb down into bite-sized chunks making it that little bit easier psychologically. Go on Tour day for the richest experience, although don't bother trying for a time – you'll be surrounded by thousands.
Where it starts Bourg d'Oisans, in the Isère department. Situated on the D1091, 50km south-east of Grenoble.
Stats Start elevation 723m, finish elevation 1,850m, length 13.8km, average gradient 9.9%
A place to stay Camp at the intimate Ferme Noemie, just five minutes from Bourg d'Oisans. From £21 per night for a pitch for two people.
Le Mont Ventoux
While the Alpe is the picture-postcard, friendly star of the Tour's mountains, the Ventoux is its bad-tempered, smouldering, older brother.
The Ventoux entered the Tour one year earlier than the Alpe, featuring for the first time in 1951, when Frenchman Lucien Lazaridès led the way over the climb for the first time.
But the mountain is famous for one incident above all: the death of Tommy Simpson in 1967. Simpson was one of his generation's finest riders – a Brit who had found glory on the continent, winning multiple one-day classics and becoming world champion in 1965. He was also the first British rider to wear the yellow jersey. His bid for a first British Tour podium was cut cruelly short; on 13 July 1967, in infernal heat near the top of the Ventoux, Simpson collapsed. Frantic efforts to revive him were in vain and he was pronounced dead a few hours later. A monument to Simpson now stands near to the spot he fell.
The climb Riding the Ventoux is a true battle against nature. It's steep, it's hot and it's windy. After a relatively easy opening few kilometres, the "fun" starts after the hamlet of St Estève. Over the next 8km the gradient doesn't fall below 9%, and some stretches much tougher than that. Then you hit the famous Chalet Reynard and the character of the climb changes dramatically. All vegetation dies away, and while the gradient slackens slightly, the heat radiates off the sun-bleached boulders and the wind intensifies.
Where it starts The classic Tour route starts in Bédoin, in the Vaucluse department, 40km north-east of Avignon.
Stats Start elevation 296m, finish elevation 1,912m, length 21.1km, average gradient 7.6%
A place to stay Domaine de Pierravon, Bédoin. Doubles from £60 per night, including breakfast.
Col du Tourmalet
The Tour has visited the Col du Tourmalet more than any other mountain – 81 times so far if you count finishes at La Mongie, the dispiriting ski-station four kilometres from its summit on its eastern slopes.
The Tourmalet, along with the Peyresourde, Aspin and Aubisque, forms part of the classic Tour stage through the Pyrenees, which is rather worryingly known as the circle of death. Octave Lapize was the first rider to crest the climb in 1910, on the way to his only Tour win.
The Tourmalet's most famous story comes from 1913 when the forks of Eugène Christophe's bike snapped near the top of the mountain. Christophe, the overwhelming favourite to win the race, shouldered his bike and walked down the mountain to the village of Ste-Marie-de-Campan. There he found a forge and set about mending his bike, continuing on his way some hours later, only to be docked more time for accepting the help of a boy to work the bellows – all outside assistance being forbidden. Amazingly he didn't finish last on the stage. Today a plaque marks the forge in the tiny village.
The climb From the north-east, the climb doesn't get difficult until the 5km mark, when it ramps up to around 9%. And there it stays until pretty much the top. It's a consistent climb, particularly when compared to some of the others in the Pyrenees. Try to close your eyes to La Mongie, best described as probably not the most attractive ski-resort you're likely to see, and look forward to the glorious views on offer over the western descent at the top.
Where it starts The eastern ascent starts from Ste-Marie-de-Campan, in the Hautes-Pyrenees department, 35km south of Tarbes.
Stats Start elevation 847m, finish elevation 2,115m, length 17.1km, average gradient 7.3%
A place to stay Camp at Monloo, Bagnères-de-Bigorre. From £15 for the pitch and two people per night.
Note: The western descent of the Tourmalet is impossible at present as part of the road was swept away in floods last week
Col d'Aubisque
Like the Tourmalet, the Aubisque first featured in 1910. Unlike the Tourmalet, Octave Lapize wasn't the first over the climb, that honour belongs to François Lafourcade. However, it is Lapize's name that is synonymous with the Aubisque as it was he who famously branded the watching time-keepers assassins, as he trudged up the mountain's final metres.
Another rider to find the Aubisque too much to bear was Wim Van Est. In 1951, while wearing the yellow jersey, Van Est plunged off the side of the mountain while descending its eastern slopes. He was thrown into a ravine and could only be rescued by his team fashioning a rescue rope out of tyres. While that put paid to his dreams of Tour victory, he did become the face of Pontiac watches in his native Netherlands because of it: "Seventy metres I fell. My heart stood still but my Pontiac never stopped," read the advert's strap-line.
The climb The eastern ascent is stunning but long. To reach the top of the Aubisque from this direction you must first climb the Col du Soulor, in itself a 20km ride (although after a tough start the next 10km or so are very easy). A short descent from the top of the Soulor takes you to the Cirque de Litor, a staggering corniche hacked into the side of the mountain and one of the most photographed sections of all the Tour's climbs, before the final 5km to the top of the Aubisque.
Where it starts The eastern ascent starts from Argeles-Gazost, in the Hautes-Pyrenees department, 15km south of Lourdes.
Stats Start elevation 457m, finish elevation 1,709m, length 29km, average gradient 4.2%
A place to stay Camp at Camping du Lavendan, Argeles Gazost. From £25 per night, for the pitch and two people.
Col du Galibier
First introduced in 1911, the Col du Galibier was the favourite of Tour founder Henri Desgrange. As well as having a penchant for making his riders suffer, Desgrange liked to indulge in hyperbolic prose. When the Tour peloton tackled the Galibier that July day in 1911, Desgrange wrote: "Are these men not winged, who today climbed to heights where even eagles don't go … they rose so high they seemed to dominate the world!" He also said that, compared to the Galibier, all other climbs were like gnat's piss. A monument to Desgrange stands on its southern side.
In 1998 the climb was the springboard for a glorious attack by the late Marco Pantani. The tiny Italian lit up a bleak and grimy day, attacking in torrential rain four kilometres from the top of the climb and holding his lead all the way to the finish at Les Deux Alpes. It was an escapade that would send him on his way to victory in Paris.
Two years ago, to mark the centenary of that first stage on the Galibier, the mountain hosted its first stage finish, becoming the highest point for a climax to a Tour stage. That day Andy Schleck threw caution to the wind and, in a throwback to yesteryear, attacked 60km from the finish to win a legendary stage.
The climb A long grind up to Plan Lachet before the road crosses a river and begins a steep series of switchbacks. From here the gradient rarely falls below 8%. Peaks glower menacingly all around. It's grand and daunting rather than beautiful. Just after the tunnel that is open to cars but not to bikes, the road kicks up again for a final kilometre at over 10% – just to make sure you're worthy.
Where it starts The classic ascent is of the Galibier's northern side, starting in Valloire, in the Savoie department.
Stats Start elevation 1,434m, finish elevation 2,645m, length 17.5km, average gradient 6.9%
A place to stay Hotel du Centre, Valloire. From £60 per night, based on two people sharing, room-only.
Giles Belbin is the author of the newly published book Mountain Kings, about cycling the Tour de France's most famous peaks (Punk Publishing, £16.95). To buy a copy for £13.56 with free UK p&P, visit guardianbookshop.co.uk.
