Three kilometers with more than 10% drop, eleven in total with an average 9.2%… Alpe d’Huez, apotheosis of the July 14 stage, is in everyone’s mind but it’s another pass, much tougher, which makes the whole peloton tremble. This Wednesday, it will be a little after 4 p.m. when the Col du Granon arrives. The first red alert of this alpine sequence.
The Tour de France has only ventured once on this tricky, even if very regular slope. We are in 1986 and Charly Mottet is one of the explorers of the extreme. “I remember a very difficult pass. Me, it was fine, but the kilometers are longer for those who suffer from the altitude. It has changed but back then it was a gritty road that didn’t yield much. I will be surprised if Pogacar does not try anything tomorrow. If he doesn’t attack, he doesn’t have good legs. At the foot of the Granon, you can’t get out of it if you’re less well, you can’t hide like on the plain. »
Justice of the peace, this pass can be all the more so as the arrival will be at the summit, that is to say at an altitude of 2,413 m. Jeannie Longo happily answers our questions about this point which she also climbed in 1986. Before winning there five times during the Granon Challenge, organized every summer on August 15th. “There is no respite in this ascent. A bit like in Mont Ventoux on the Reynard chalet side. There is no flat turn, she deciphers. I don’t know if I can give them any advice, given how high it is these days, but in any case, you have to cool off. Not necessarily drink tons because you risk swelling but rather by giving yourself regular sponge shots. The most important thing is to water and cool off more than to hydrate. »
“In case of headwind, you suffer until the end”
Jordan Sarrou, 2020 cross-country mountain bike world champion, has his habits. When he goes to visit family in the area, he sticks to the Granon to “test himself”. He holds the second fastest time there on the Strava application, with a time of 39 minutes and 12 seconds, an effort at 17.2 km / h. “From the foot of the pass, it’s straight away steep. It depends on the wind direction but the best climbers could tell the difference very quickly. The beginning of the second third is really terrible with very steep switchbacks. At the end, it calms down a bit but in the event of a headwind, you suffer until the end. »
The arrival, precisely, let’s talk about it. If the Granon has not already established itself among the mythical rendezvous of the Grande Boucle, it is because it is impossible to go down there from the other side, whether by car or by bike. In a way, there stands a point of no return, a fine definition of what awaits the runners.