Skip to content
STAGE 19 OF 21Friday 24 July

GapAlpe d'Huez

Mountain127.9 KMAlpsSUMMIT FINISH

Short and explosive at under 128km, finishing up the 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez — the most famous climb in cycling. The first of two consecutive days finishing on the Alpe, a Grand Tour first.

KEY CLIMBS

HC

Alpe d'Huez

13.8 km · 8.1% avg · 1,860 m summit

Col du Noyer

7.2 km · 8.3% avg

Col d'Ornon

5.6 km · 6.2% avg

THE TACTICAL READ

WHO IT SUITS

Explosive climbers and the GC men with the best top-end. Under 128km, it is raced flat-out from the Col d'Ornon with no easing in.

WHAT TO WATCH

Attacks on the lower hairpins of the Alpe. A short stage compresses everything into the final climb, and the 21 bends of Alpe d'Huez are where reputations are made.

ROADMAN PREDICTION

Fireworks. The first of two straight finishes on the Alpe sees the GC favourites trade blows on cycling's most famous climb — expect attacks, not a tempo procession.

THE ROADMAN TAKE

WHAT THIS STAGE DEMANDS

A short mountain stage is ridden flat-out from early — no easing in, no saving it for the finish. The lesson is that fitness has a ceiling set by VO2max, and on a 13km climb at 8% your sustainable power is what decides it. VO2 intervals are the most direct way to raise that ceiling.

WHAT STEPHEN SEILER WOULD PUSH

Raise the aerobic ceiling with hard intervals on a deep base, then express it on the Alpe — the polarised model built precisely for a maximal 40-minute climbing effort.

THE DAILY DEBRIEF

Anthony’s daily Tour podcast lands here on the evening of the stage.

DAILY DEBRIEFFriday 24 July

Stage 19 Debrief — Gap to Alpe d'Huez

The day's climbing decoded: the moves that mattered, the watts behind them, and the training that builds a body for Alpe d'Huez.

Get it First in SkoolDrops on the evening of the stage.

TRAIN FOR IT

The Roadman content that builds what Stage 19 asks for.

PLAY THE FANTASY TOUR

Pick your nine riders, score every stage, and settle it on the community leaderboard. Coming for July inside the Roadman community.