L'Alpe d'Huez — Tour de France
The Tour de France on the 21 bends — riders, fans and the mountain.
- Location
- Alpe d'Huez, FR
- Date
- 2026
- Type
- Photography
L'histoire
One afternoon on the most famous climb in cycling. Twenty-one hairpins, a crowd on every one of them, and a race that passes each bend in a matter of seconds. Shot from the roadside on 24 July 2026 — less the race itself than everything around it: the waiting, the noise, the faces, the effort.
The Wait
The road fills hours before the riders arrive. Flags from everywhere, polka-dot caps, people who have clearly been on the same bend since morning. Most of the afternoon is waiting — and the waiting is half the story.
The Climb
When the race comes through, it's over almost before it starts. We shot most of it with a slow shutter, panning with the riders so the crowd dissolves around them — the only way to show how fast they are still moving on a mountain, and how close the fans get.
The Road
Between the riders, we kept looking back down the mountain — the road snaking through the trees, lined with people as far as the lens could reach.
“Twenty-one bends, and a crowd on every one.”
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