At 2,115m, the Col du Tourmalet is the highest paved pass in the French Pyrenees, steeped in legend. It has been included more than any other pass in the Tour de France, with 82 crossings and 2 stage finishes since 1910.
The famous 1913 story of Eugène Christophe breaking his fork and repairing it himself at a forge occurred at the Tourmalet, and leaders at the summit read as a roll-call of cycling’s greatest climbers - Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thevenet, Robert Millar, Tony Rominger, Claudio Chiappucci and Richard Virenque.
But it is the French rider Octave Lapize who is commemorated at the top. First to the top in 1910, eventual Tour winner Lapize is famed for arriving at the summit, having pushed his single-speed bike up much of the climb on gravel roads, and yelling at the Tour organisers, ‘Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins!’ – ‘You are murderers! Yes, murderers!’
But riders come and go. The Col remains, and so you can wear this Soigneur jersey as a commemoration of all it represents.
A superbly comfortable, high quality and ethically produced merino cycling jersey commemorating one of the classic climbs - buy yours now.
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Categories: Classic Climbs (4) Classic Jerseys (77)