Spectating at Alpe d'Huez: via Villard Reculas

sonny73
sonny73 Posts: 2,203
edited January 2011 in Pro race
Does anyone know if they shut the road to cyclists which takes you to Huez via Villard Reculas coming from the D44, when the Tour goes up the Alpe?
I was there in 2008 but we walked up the Alpe from Bourg and this year it will be a lot quicker from where we are staying to go the other route.
I imagine they don't at all but was just wondering.
Cheers

Comments

  • Just the climb itself but the whole area does get a bit crowded and they have been known to close the roads a few days early due to volume of traffic.
  • In the past it's been OK to do that. Takes a while to get back though as there will be hundreds of people trudging back along the cliff road after the race.
  • sonny73
    sonny73 Posts: 2,203
    Great thanks for the info chaps, maybe it's one to ride up to and then descend down the Alpe itself on the way back.
    Cheers
  • eiger30
    eiger30 Posts: 39
    Sonny73 wrote:
    Great thanks for the info chaps, maybe it's one to ride up to and then descend down the Alpe itself on the way back.
    Cheers

    Sounds easy but not, on Ventoux in '09 it took about a mile and a half for the crowd to thin enough to be able to cycle properly after the stage and over 3 before you didn't have to worry about the 'magic' people walking straight in front of you, even though they looked.

    Saying all that, me and the wife will be on the Alpe (cycle up and down) this year, and Galibier and the TT in Grenoble.
  • eiger30 wrote:
    Sonny73 wrote:
    Great thanks for the info chaps, maybe it's one to ride up to and then descend down the Alpe itself on the way back.
    Cheers

    Sounds easy but not, on Ventoux in '09 it took about a mile and a half for the crowd to thin enough to be able to cycle properly after the stage and over 3 before you didn't have to worry about the 'magic' people walking straight in front of you, even though they looked.

    Saying all that, me and the wife will be on the Alpe (cycle up and down) this year, and Galibier and the TT in Grenoble.

    One of the best descents I've ever done was riding down the Alpe after the stage in '08, bikes, people and cars everywhere. Even managed to "clip" a gendarme who was stood in the middle of the road. Having said that though, people walking down tend to stick to one side of the road and cars and bikes to the other...
  • sonny73
    sonny73 Posts: 2,203
    eiger30 wrote:
    Sonny73 wrote:
    Great thanks for the info chaps, maybe it's one to ride up to and then descend down the Alpe itself on the way back.
    Cheers

    Sounds easy but not, on Ventoux in '09 it took about a mile and a half for the crowd to thin enough to be able to cycle properly after the stage and over 3 before you didn't have to worry about the 'magic' people walking straight in front of you, even though they looked.

    Saying all that, me and the wife will be on the Alpe (cycle up and down) this year, and Galibier and the TT in Grenoble.

    One of the best descents I've ever done was riding down the Alpe after the stage in '08, bikes, people and cars everywhere. Even managed to "clip" a gendarme who was stood in the middle of the road. Having said that though, people walking down tend to stick to one side of the road and cars and bikes to the other...

    Yeh I seem to recall in 08 it was doable if you were careful, I also remember a Gendarme screaming at cyclists to slow down as they were hammering it around the bends. Totally did my back in walking down, so I look forward to riding this time round.
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    iirc the access roads all closed to vehicles at lunchtime the day before the race in 08, then the Alpe itself was closed from the morning of the race.

    I think people were cycling/walking up until about 3 hours before.

    We only had a 50yd walk from the apartment we stayed in to where we watched the race (bend 16 - La Garde), meant I could keep the beers cold in the fridge, and keep restocking 8)