Times Climbing l'Alpe d'huez

limerickman

I am not sure about the statement that Coppi was using a fixed wheel back in 1952.
Certainly the derailleur had been in use in the TDF since 1937 - so I would expect that he did have some gear selections.
But nothing like the range of gears that they have today.
Also remember Coppi would have been using a heavier bike and the road surface would have been terrible in comparison to today.
This makes Coppi's performance all the greater.
48 mins.

Myfriend climbed D'Huez in August - he cannot cycle at all but fancied having a go.
It took him 2hrs 3mins to climb the 14 kms.

ilpirata

I must say that the supposition that Indurain's time in 95 would have been better if he hadn't waited so long, is rather silly. Perhaps we need to take time measurements starting from halfway up? In any event the rider who takes off in a breakaway attempt takes all the risk, and that anaerobic initial stress he will eventually pay for. But he needs to assure he has surprised his adversaries so that no one is on his wheel benifiting. Thus the great champion Indurain shows his greatness in limiting damage, but to say more is; as i say silly.

sopas

Yes, but we have to remember that Pantani was not an overall contender for the General classification that year and he was many minutes back on Indurain. Actually Indurain did not need to attack that day. The reality is that even if Pantani had tanken 3 minutes on Indurain that day he wouln't have won the 95 TdF. Indurain's real enemies that year were Zulle and Riis, and both were having a hard time to maintain Indurain's path on the climb to L'Alple d'huez. I wonder what we could see if Pantani were only 2-3 minutes behind Indurain on the General Classification that day. Miguel could not have afforded then to let Pantani go from the bottom and risk the yellow jersey. Whether Miguel could manage to arrive to the top with Pantani or not is another story. I think Pantani would have won the stage anyway (since he is better sprinter than Miguel) but only by 20-30 seconds. However this is all open to speculation.