The Galibier: a cycling monument.

“Climb the Galibier without exhausting your reserves, that’s what you have to do”.

Gustave Garrigou, 8 Tours de France between 1907 and 1914, winner in 1911

Built by the Armée des Alpes*, the Galibier road was part of a mammoth project to link the main valleys via the high passes.

Galibier is a name that resonates through cycling history, with the north side of the pass providing one of the longest and hardest climbs a cyclist will ever have to face. Starting from Saint Michel de Maurienne, riders must first overcome the difficult Col du Télégraphe, with only a short respite on the descent to Valloire before they have to tackle the redoubtable slopes of the Galibier itself.

The Galibier has been a cycling legend since 1911, when the “convicts of the road” were forced to climb it during the very first Tour de France. At the time, derailleurs were banned and the riders did the climb with a 21x11 gear ratio, that is a development of 4 metres for every turn of the pedals!

Only three riders (Geoget, Duboc and Garrigou) got to the top without putting a foot down!

Regularly included in the Tour de France, the Galibier is always an extremely difficult stage where talent and courage shine out, and it is frequently decisive in establishing the final placings in Paris.

No other pass in the area has featured in the Tour more often; no other climb has contributed so much to the race’s legendary status; and no other pass in France, not even the Tourmalet, is as famous or as popular with cyclists. There is no faking it on the Galibier!

“This pass approaches the sublime, with the snow at the top […] there is no need to attack, the others just crack”. These are the words of Lucien van Impe, a light and unbeatable climber who took part in 15 Tours de France between 1969 and 1985 (second in 1981 aged 35).

In 2011, the Tour de France will go over the Col du Galibier for the 57^th time!

*The Armée des Alpes was one of the armies of the French Revolution that was created to face Italy. The name was used until the Second World War.