"Son, do you know the Tourmalet well? Could you guide me? I'll give you a gold coin. When we get to the other top, I'll give you another one."
The boy joined him for a while but then he too turned back, scared of the eerie mountain.
Steinès rested on a rock. He considered sitting it out until dawn, then realised he'd freeze. He slipped on the icy road, then fell into a stream. He climbed back to the road and again fell in the snow. Exhausted and stumbling, he reached the top then began to descend when he heard another voice.
"Tell me who goes there or I'll shoot!"
"I'm a lost traveller. I've just come across the Tourmalet."
"Oh, it's you, Monsieur Steinès! We were expecting you! We got a phone call at Ste-Marie-de-Campan. Everybody's at Barèges. It's coming on for three a.m. There are search teams of guides out looking for you."
The Tour's organising newspaper, L'Auto, had a correspondent at Barèges, a man called Lanne-Camy. He took him for a bath and provided new clothes.
Steines sent a telegram to Desgrange: "Crossed Tourmalet stop. Very good road stop. Perfectly feasible."’
With that ridiculously short telegram that told nothing of the difficutlies of the Tourmalet, the Tour and the mountain began their affair.
The Col du Tourmalet is one of the most famous climbs on the Tour de France. It has been included more than any other pass, starting in 1910 after Steines infamous telegram. The Tour has crossed the summit 47 times since 1947. Since 1980 it has been ranked ‘hors categorie’, or exceptional.
A large statue of early Tour winner Octave Lapize adorns the summit, it shows him gasping for air as he struggles to make the climb. He was the very first rider to cross the summit on the way to victory in the Tour in 1910. He is noted for looking at some Tour officials on the climb of the Col du Tourmalet and yelling, "Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!' (French for 'You are murderers! Yes, murderers!')" Perhaps he would have disagreed with Steines' recommendation of “Very good road”!
In just a few days the 2010 Tour de France will celebrate it’s centenary of the first inclusion of the the Col du Tourmalet, as riders will pass that summit not only once but twice!
It will be the 79th and 80th passage of the fabled climb for the Tour, and on stage 16, Tuesday July 20, it will feature early in the stage from Bagneres de Luchon-Pau. The day’s 199.5 kilometers stage will pass the summit after a mere 72 km of racing.
The stage is packed with the ascent of the Col du Peyresourde right from the start, then the Col d’Aspin followed by the 17km ascent up the Col du Tourmalet from the Eastern side. The race then heads up Col d’Aubisque and from this summit, there remain 60 km to the finish at Pau.
A lot will depend on how the riders respond to the early climbs, as some criticize the fact that the Tourmalet is such a long way from the finish and believe there is little point in the climb. The first rider over the summit or the Col du Tourmalet will win the Jacque Goddet prize. (Jacques Goddet was director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1987).
In 1969 Eddy Merckx launched an epic attack over these same passes. Already in the yellow jersey, Merckx attacked near the summit of the Tourmalet, and rode alone for 140 km winning the stage near Pau! He won his first Tour that year. Merckx described his exploit as “a gift to the Tour de France.”
This year the 17th stage will finish on the very summit of the Col du Tourmalet at 2115m. This will be just the second time in history that a stage finish arrives on the summit of the Col du Tourmalet (the first was back in 1974, where Jean-Pierre Danguillaume won). The Tourmalet, approached from the western side, will provide a platform for the Tour de France to be won or lost, as this is the final mountain top finish of the race.
The 174km stage follows a rest day, and it should see some real action from the top contenders. After climbing the Col du Marie Blanque, there is not much respite in the valley before the Col du Soulor. The Soulor is long, up to 25km and after that the riders head towards the Tourmalet which should be all decisive as riders race for the stage win, the Yellow Jersey and also the Henri Desgrange prize will be awarded to the rider first to the top for the highest point of the race.
It's amazing to think back to those men like Octave Lapize struggling up the giant Tourmalet on those basic, heavy bikes without gears – it really was the ultimate challenge for in the gruelling competition for victory. The equipment may have changed somewhat through the years, but the beautiful thing about the Tour is that the mountains remain the same. The race up to the Tourmalet's heights still capture the imagination of riders and spectators alike, providing the ultimate setting for battle for the prize of the yellow jersey!
