Valloire → Col du Galibier · The legendary roof of the Tour de France
On 10 July 1911, during the 5th stage of the Tour de France between Chamonix and Grenoble, riders crossed the Col du Galibier for the first time, then a rough mule track topping out at 2,642 metres. Émile Georget was first to reach the summit, opening the era of the great Alpine passes and giving the Tour its most feared arena.
In 1949, a monument was erected near the summit tunnel in memory of Henri Desgrange, founder of the Tour, who had died nine years earlier. Since 1947, the 'Souvenir Henri Desgrange' has rewarded the first rider each year to cross the race's highest point, often the Galibier itself.
The pass has witnessed some of cycling's greatest feats: Fausto Coppi's snow-covered breakaway in 1952, Marco Pantani's legendary rain-soaked attack in 1998, and Andy Schleck's solo ride in 2011, which gave the Tour its highest-ever stage finish, right at the summit of the pass.
The Galibier tunnel, bored in 1891 beneath the summit, was for decades the only way through the pass. Only in 1976 was a road built over the top, giving riders, and cyclotourists, the true summit crossing at 2,642 metres, now closed every winter from October to late May under several metres of snow.
Your feat cast in metal
1,212 m of climbing over 17.9 legendary kilometres: your name on the medal of the Tour's rooftop.