Alpe d’Huez first hosted a Tour de France stage finish in 1952.
The finish came on 4 July during Stage 10, a 266-kilometre route from Lausanne to Alpe d’Huez. Italian champion Fausto Coppi won the stage and used the summit finish to strengthen his grip on the race. The 1952 Tour was the first edition to introduce several mountain-top arrivals, making the event a landmark in the race’s climbing history.
Alpe d’Huez was not immediately used every year after its debut. The climb returned to the Tour in 1976, and it later became one of the race’s most famous venues, especially because its 21 numbered hairpin bends create a dramatic amphitheatre for spectators.
A common mix-up is confusing the first Alpe d’Huez finish with the climb’s modern fame. Its iconic status grew decades later, particularly through repeated finishes in the late twentieth century and the celebrated battles of the 1990s.