Luz Ardiden is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. It is situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Occitanie Region. The ski resort lies at a height of 1720 meters and was opened on January 16, 1975. In recent years the road to Luz Ardiden has served as an occasional stage finish for the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

and the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; en, Tour of Spain) is an annual multi-stage bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, the ...

Details of climb

Starting from

Luz-Saint-Sauveur Luz-Saint-Sauveur (; oc, Lus e Sent Sauvaire) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitania region of south-western France. It lies on the river Bastan, a tributary of the Gave de Pau. Locals simply call it Luz, the city ...

(710 m), the climb to Luz Ardiden (1720 m) is 14.7 km long. The elevation gain over this distance is 1010 m (an average of 6.9%). The maximum gradient is 10%.

Cycling

Luz Ardiden has been the finish-line for

and

stages several times.

Tour de France stage finishes

During the 1985 Tour de France stage 17, which included Luz Ardiden, was the scene of an infamous moment in cycling history. On stage 17 LeMond and a rival rider,

Stephen Roche Stephen Roche (; born 28 November 1959) is an Irish former professional road racing cyclist. In a 13-year professional career, he peaked in 1987, becoming the second of only two cyclists to win the Triple Crown of victories in the Tour de Fr ...

, were far ahead of the pack when the team boss Bernard Tapie and coach Paul Köchli asked him to slow down, saying that Hinault was 45 seconds behind. LeMond refrained from attacking and waited at the stage's finish where he realized he'd been misled; Hinault was in fact more than three minutes behind. Hinault went on to win that year's Tour by 1 minute 42 seconds; in return for his assistance, LeMond was assured by Hinault that he would support LeMond the following year. During the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

Tour

Claudio Chiappucci Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 199 ...

had surprised all of the pre-race favorites by still leading the race by over two minutes going into stage 16, which ended in a mountaintop finish on Luz Ardiden. Late in the stage after the race had come back together Fabio Parra launched an attack which only LeMond and

Miguel Induráin Miguel Induráin Larraya (; born 16 July 1964) is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. Induráin won five Tours de France from 1991 to 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five-time winner to achieve those victories co ...

could answer. LeMond and Induráin quickly caught and dropped Parra and LeMond set the pace up the final climb. By the time they reached the summit LeMond had all but secured his 3rd Tour de France victory and sat up as Induráin claimed the stage win. This performance on Luz Ardiden all but secured the victory for LeMond, even though there were still several stages to go, because it was well known that he was a far better time trialist than Chiappucci and would easily make up the +0:05 deficit which meant, in essence, that aside from crashing out, it was now LeMond's Tour to win or lose. Even though Induráin had yet to win the first of his five Tours, this would be the final (non-ITT) victory of his career. During the

2003 Tour de France The 2003 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 5 to 27 July, and the 90th edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Anti- ...

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

was riding with

Iban Mayo Iban Mayo Diez (born 19 August 1977 in Igorre, Basque Country, Spain) is a former professional road bicycle racer. Biography Renowned as a climber, Mayo turned pro with in 2000, and became one of the Basque Country's prospects for glory. He ...

at the start of the climb to Luz Ardiden when Armstrong crashed, bringing Mayo down with him. The fall was caused when Armstrong caught the handlebar of his bike on the strap of a spectator's bag. Jan Ulrich, who was riding just behind Armstrong and Mayo, avoided the crash, and in an act of chivalry he slowed to wait for the fallen riders. Armstrong would go on to win by his smallest ever margin.

Vuelta a España stage finishes

References

External links