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Climbing the Tourmalet in the 2010 Tour de France
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When theTour de France was announced the experts immediately started to dissect the course. The overall consensus is that it is a climber's Tour with six mountain stages, which includes three mountain top finishes. A sampling of the classic climbs of the 2010 Tour de France are the Marie-Blanque, the Col de Madeleine, the Col de Peyresourde, and a climb that looks to be one of the deciding factors for the overall is the Col du Tourmalet, which will be ridden in the 15th stage and will finish at the summit on stage 17. The Col du Tourmalet is being attacked from the western side in the 2010 edition. From this side the length is 11.1 miles long with an average gradient of 7% and maximum of 10.2% near the summit. So what is it like to ride the Tourmalet? There's no way to simulate the race environment itself unless you're racing in the Tour. To get a sense of what the Tour riders are going to have to conquer a close approximation is the climb of Cherokee Hill in North Carolina. The length of the climb is almost equal to the Tourmalet, just not as steep (an average gradient of 5.7%). To get a close approximation of the steepness of the Tourmalet, Paris Mountain has an average gradient of 6.7% and a maximum of over 10% near the top. However at just 2.3 miles in length, a rider would have to climb Paris Mountain five times in a row to simulate the Tourmalet!
If you are looking to improve your climbing prowess this article gives some pointers and training techniques. While it doesn't claim to improve your climbing to make riding the Tourmalet any easier. If you want to hear another perspective on another portion of the Tour de France, this Examiner has a hard-core view on what it must feel like to ride a Grand Tour. For more stage by stage in-depth analysis here is another good source.
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