The Big Test: Alpe d'Huez

The first rider to win tame the Alpe was Italy's Fausto Coppi in 1952, the last - on a full stage - Iban Mayo of Spain, in 2003. In total, 17 different riders have won atop the 1780 metre high col.

Four riders, Italians Gianni Bugno and Marco Pantani, and Dutchmen Hennie Kuiper and Peter Winnen, have won an Alpe d'Huez stage twice - five if you include Lance Armstrong, who won a time trial on the slope in 2004 after his stage victory in 2001.

Pantani holds the record for the fastest ever ascent - 37'35" - in 1997. The Italian also holds the record for the second and fourth fastest ascent, with Armstrong's 2004 effort taking the bronze.

After Dutchmen rode to victory on eight of the first 14 stages to be held on the mountain, Alpe d'Huez became known as the Dutch Mountain.

However, none of the last ten stages have been won by Dutch riders, with Italy picking up six, the USA, three and Spain, one.

Each of the 21 hairpins is named after a previous winner from ascending chronological order. With each bend taken after Giuseppe Guerini's win in 1999, victors since then have taken up joint-dedications alongside former greats at the foot of the hill.

As such, Virage 21, the first hairpin you approach from the valley, is double-dedicated to first winner Coppi and Armstrong, the first rider to win after Guerini, after whom the final hairpin, Virage 1, is named.

In 2004, almost one million fans from Bourg d'Oisans in the valley to the finish in Alpe d'Huez lined the roads to cheer on their stars. Up to a third of fans on any given year are said to be Dutch.

1952 - Fausto Coppi (Italy); 1976 - Joop Zoetemelk (Netherlands); 1977 - Hennie Kuiper (Netherlands); 1978 - Kuiper; 1979 - Joachim Agostinho (Portugal), Zoetemelk (two stage finishes); 1981 - Peter Winnen (Netherlands); 1982 - Beat Breu (Switzerland); 1983 - Winnen; 1984 - Luis Herrera (Colombia); 1986 - Bernard Hinault (France); 1987 - Federico Echave (Spain); 1988 - Steven Rooks (Netherlands); 1989 - Gert-Jan Theunisse (Netherlands); 1990 - Gianni Bugno (Italy); 1991 - Bugno; 1992 - Andrew Hampsten (U.S.); 1994 - Roberto Conti (Italy); 1995 - Marco Pantani (Italy); 1997 - Pantani; 1999 - Giuseppe Guerini (Italy); 2001 - Lance Armstrong (U.S.); 2003 - Iban Mayo (Spain); 2004 - Armstrong (ITT)

1997 - Pantani 37 minutes and 35 seconds; 1994 - Pantani 38:00; 2001 - Armstrong 38:01; 1995 - Pantani 38:04; 2003 - Mayo 39:06; 2004 - Armstrong (ITT) 41:47; 1999 - Guerini 41:52.