It is a mountain pasture in the central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

The Alpe d'Huez resort is accessible from Grenoble by the RD 1091 [fr], which runs along the Romanche Valley passing through the communes of Livet-et-Gavet and Le Bourg-d'Oisans as well as Haut-Oisans via the Col de Sarenne.

It was composed of a castle, a parish church with a cemetery, a village with about 80 homes, surface and underground mine workings, as well as several industrial districts.

It is currently the only medieval coron [fr][1] known and preserved in its entirety, making it a unique site in Europe and classified as historical monuments by a decree of 6 August 1995.

[3] The medieval mining operation stretched from Gua (the Sarenne [fr] Valley) to the Lac Blanc [White Lake] (Massif des Rousses).

Under the leadership of Father Jaap Reuten, head of the parish from 1964 to 1992, it was designed by the architect Jean Marol in the 1960s (completed in 1970), and decorated with colour-rich stained-glass windows by the artist Arcabas.

The site of the Pomagalski's first surface lift in the mid thirties, the resort gained popularity when it hosted the bobsleigh events of the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Aside from the Tunnel and Sarenne black runs, many Off-piste opportunities exist both from the summit of the 3,330-metre (10,930-foot) Pic Blanc and the 2,808-metre (9,213-foot) Dome des Petites Rousses.

Alpe d'Huez hosted the bobsleigh events at the 1968 Winter Olympics based at Grenoble 65 km (40 mi) away.

[10] He drove his Panhard Dyna car between snow banks that lined the road in March 1952, invited by a consortium of businesses who had opened hotels at the summit.

Wermelinger reported to the organiser, Jacques Goddet, and the Tour signed a contract with the businessmen to include the Alpe.

Stage 18 of the 2013 Tour de France included a double ascent of the climb, reaching 1,765 m (5,791 ft) on the first passage, and continuing to the traditional finish on the second.

[17] The author Tim Moore wrote: As a variant on a sporting theme, Alpe d'Huez annoys the purists but enthrals the broader public, like 20/20 cricket or beach volleyball.

During this year's clean-up operation, down in a ravine with the bottle shards and dented emulsion tins, a body turned up.

[18]Alpe d'Huez has been nicknamed the "Dutch Mountain",[19] since Dutchmen won eight of the first 14 finishes in le Tour De France.

British author Geoffrey Nicholson wrote: The attraction of opposites draws [Dutch spectators] from the Low Countries to the Alps each summer in any case.

But all winter in the Netherlands coach companies offer two or three nights at Alpe d'Huez as a special feature of their alpine tours.

And those Dutch families who don't come by coach, park their campers and pitch their tents along the narrow ledges beside the road like sea-birds nesting at St Kilda.

The Dutch haven't adopted the Alpe d'Huez simply because it is sunny and agreeable, or even because the modern, funnel-shaped church, Notre Dame des Neiges, has a Dutch priest, Father Reuten (until a few years ago, it was used as a press room and was probably the only church in France where, for one day at least, there were ashtrays in the nave and a bar in the vestry, or where an organist was once asked to leave because he was disturbing the writers' concentration).

1977: Lucien Van Impe, a Belgian rider leading the climbers' competition, broke clear on the Col du Glandon.

[21] 1978: Another Belgian leading the mountains race also came close to taking the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.

Due to this disqualification Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk, who finished 3rd on the stage and would have climbed to 2nd in the General Classification, took over the yellow jersey, but would lose it on the final time trial to Bernard Hinault.

1997: Marco Pantani, who won on the Alpe two years earlier, attacked three times and only Jan Ullrich could match him.

At the bottom of the Alpe d'Huez climb, Armstrong moved to the front of the lead group of riders and then looked back at Jan Ullrich.

2018: Geraint Thomas, Tom Dumoulin, Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Mikel Landa were able to catch Steven Kruijswijk, who had been on a 70 km solo attack, about 2/3 of the way up the climb and with about 500 meters to go Thomas dropped the remaining elite riders to become the first rider to win the Alpe d’Huez stage while wearing the yellow jersey.

A number of cycling publications cite times prior to 1994, although distances are typically not included, making comparisons difficult.

[27] In the 1980s Gert-Jan Theunisse, Pedro Delgado, Luis Herrera, and Laurent Fignon rode in times stated to be faster than Coppi's, but still not breaking 40m.

[29] It was not until Gianni Bugno and Miguel Indurain in 1991, that times faster than 40m were reported, including in the 39m range for Bjarne Riis in 1995 and Richard Virenque in 1997.

The resort caters for mountain bikers during the summer months, the pinnacle of which is the Megavalanche, a 'Downhill Enduro' Event that takes riders from lift station at the highest peak, Pic Blanc, to Allemont in the valley floor.

This virtual version of the climb was created using GPS data from the original route to copy it perfectly in both gradient and distance.