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STAGE 19 OF 21Friday 24 July

Gap → Alpe 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.

TRAIN FOR IT

The Roadman content that builds what Stage 19 asks for.

VO2max training hub→VO2max intervals→Pacing strategy for long climbs→

← STAGE 18

Voiron → Orcières-Merlette

STAGE 20 →

Le Bourg-d'Oisans → Alpe d'Huez

← ALL 21 STAGES