One hundred years on the Tour de France with the Tourmalet

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On the eve of the 2010 Tour is to stop and make a special mention of the Tourmalet, one of 'kings' of the French round, where they have forged a thousand and one stories and where they have signed some of the largest and best known feats of biking yesterday and today. Even I go further: to understand the Tour de France have to study this port, see who has crowned and also see who has won the Tour this year.

If there is a mountain in the French round that everyone associated with cycling, this is none other than the Tourmalet. A mythical port and everyone dedicated to this cycling would like to reflect in its sporting history, but its hardness is so high that very few can boast of having won there. Also, speaking of Lourdes do Tourmalet is because cyclists often have to go through the village where one of the most visited shrines of the world to get into the French village of Pau and address the ramps first of all a giant sport of 'the two big wheels': the Tourmalet.

The Spanish cycling has had a notable presence at the summit. These are some of those were spent as head of the race in this legendary port exists since 1910 as a port of cycling gala round, without a doubt the best race in the world in stages: Julian Sweeper (1937), Federico Martin Bahamontes ( 1954, 1962 and 1963), Julio Jiménez (1964, 1965, 1967); Andres Gandarias (1970), Gonzalo Aja (1974) Francisco Galdos (1976), Pello Ruiz Cabestany (1985); Laudelino Cubino (1988), Miguel Angel Martínez Torres (1990), Javier Pascual (1997).

As a tribute to the organization of the Tour de France has sought to make in this centenary of the legendary Tourmalet, all ports will climb the Pyrenees which amounted in 1910 when Octave Lapize, who crossed on foot the Tourmalet in the lead, called "criminals" to the organizers had scheduled these increases inhumane.

Some of its features

The Col du Tourmalet, Col du Tourmalet or simply Tourmalet mountain pass is located in the heart of the French Pyrenees. It has an altitude of 2115 meters over sea level. The mountain pass is closed for the winter season, during which time part of the ski station of La Mongie ski resort, located on the east side of it. The port had no road until in 1846 Napoleon III ordered the construction of a thermal path.

The Tourmalet is especially known for its relationship with the Tour de France, and that since he first climbed in 1910 has become one of its ports famous for its hardness and history.

Discovery cycling

Alphonse Stein, one of the architects of the Grande Boucle, traveled from Paris to the Pyrenees in order of Henri Desgrange, patron of the race, with a mission to find a challenge to the 1910 edition (the 7th edition). At a time when French round trip only included in its mountainous difficulties, shattering feared however that the Pyrenees were too tough for cyclists.

Steines was the Tourmalet a winter morning with a car and driver. Following much of the ascent, the driver had to stop the car to four kilometers from the summit due to the abundant snow. Through the night and next, Stein got out and started walking the path to the summit, appearing almost frozen after noon in the village of Bareges, having managed to reach the top. Stein, before warming and change clothes, went to the telegraph office of the municipality to send the following message Desgranges: Crossed Tourmalet. Very good route. Perfectly practicable.

The lie of Stein, whose seven-word message would go down in posterity, he convinced Desgranges, who approved the inclusion of the Tourmalet in the route of the Tour that year, marking the debut of this legendary Pyrenees and port in the gala round.

The first rider to top the summit was Octave Lapize, who came with the yellow jersey in Paris, winning the Tour that year. In 1913, Eugene Christophe broke the fork of his bike on the Tourmalet and had querepararla himself in a forge at Sainte-Marie-de-Campan to continue the race.

This being so the organizers have decided to make a nod to the Pyrenees to celebrate the centenary of his first step, so that solid, which will be addressed in the last week of the race, the main difficulty concentrating. Four Pyrenees stages, with two steps on the Tourmalet.

Just three days before the arrival in Paris the peloton reach the top of the Tourmalet, which has only been done once in the 70 and will mark the climax of the 2010 Tour. This will be a myth, with the rise of the Marie-Blanque and Soulor, in an edition in which the organizers have decided to climb all the peaks were ascended in 1910.