Three Giants of Cycling - Alpe d’Huez Mont Ventoux Col du Tourmalet

September 22, 2025

Three Giants of Cycling - Alpe d’Huez Mont Ventoux Col du Tourmalet.

Few climbs in the world carry the same aura as cycling’s holy trinity of Alpe d’Huez, Mont Ventoux, and the Col du Tourmalet.

Each mountain is more than just a road to the summit. They are legends, living monuments where pain, glory, and history intertwine. To ride them is to follow in the wheel tracks of champions; to photograph them is to capture cycling’s soul.

Alpe d’Huez – The Theatre of Cycling

Alpe d’Huez is the very definition of drama. Rising out of Bourg d’Oisans, the climb wastes no time - the road kicks up immediately, and the first two bends are some of the steepest of the entire ascent. From then on, it’s all about the 21 hairpin bends, each one numbered, each one a milestone.

In my photography, I try to capture not just the climb, but the theatre itself — the zig-zag road snaking up the mountainside, set against the towering mountains and, at times, the raging river.

Mont Ventoux – The Giant of Provence

If Alpe d’Huez is a theatre, Mont Ventoux is a battlefield. Known as the “Giant of Provence,” its name alone strikes fear into riders. From Bédoin, the climb is 21 km of sheer difficulty. The forest section is claustrophobic, with gradients rarely dipping below 9%. For kilometre after kilometre, it feels endless — no relief, no scenery, just pain.

Then, suddenly, the world changes. At Chalet Reynard, the trees vanish, and you emerge into the Ventoux moonscape: a barren, wind-blasted desert of white scree.

Photographing Ventoux is like photographing another planet. The stark landscape, the endless white slopes, and the tiny figures of cyclists battling upwards — it’s raw, brutal, and unforgettable.

Col du Tourmalet – The Soul of the Pyrenees

If Ventoux is mythical and Alpe d’Huez is theatrical, the Col du Tourmalet is pure, raw mountain. At 2,115 metres, it’s the highest paved pass in the French Pyrenees and a fixture of the Tour de France since 1910. For many, it’s the soul of Pyrenean cycling.

From Luz-Saint-Sauveur, the climb runs 17 km, following a river valley before ramping skyward. The gradients grind on, unrelenting, as the trees thin and the air cools. The higher you climb, the wilder it feels. The road clings to bare rock, exposed to wind, and every turn reveals more of the rugged landscape.

The final stretch is stark and dramatic, crowned by the statue of Octave Lapize, who once cursed the organisers as “murderers” when the Tour first tackled this pass. Standing there today, with legs burning and lungs gasping, you understand exactly what he meant.

In my images of the Tourmalet, I look to capture that wildness - the sweep of the road through open pastures, the stark mountain backdrop, the timelessness of riders against the landscape.

Go ride it - tell me I'm wrong.

Col du Tourmalet

Mont Ventoux

Alpe d’Huez

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Three Giants of Cycling - Alpe d’Huez Mont Ventoux Col du Tourmalet

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