Icons of cycling: Puy de Dôme

The Tour de France may not have visited for nearly 30 years but the Puy de Dôme remains one of its most storied climbs, says Giles Belbin

Around 12km west of Clermontferrand, in France’s Massif Central, stands the Puy de Dôme, one of the youngest extinct volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region. Dramatic explosions of lava may be long consigned to history, but from the early 1950s until the late 1980s the Puy de Dôme regularly brought drama of a sporting kind when the Tour de France wound its way along the vertiginous road that coils around this volcanic dome.

The Tour first came here in 1952, a year dominated by Fausto Coppi. By the time the race arrived at the foot of the Puy de Dôme Coppi already had four stage wins to his name, including the first stage to Alpe d’huez, and was 27 minutes ahead of second placed Stan Ockers. As the road to the top of the volcano kicked up he followed a move by the Dutchman Jan Nolten before stealing away close to the line to claim his final Tour stage win. Two days later Coppi wore yellow in Paris.

Duels and controversy

Other names to have won on this famous climb include Federico Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña and Lucien Van Impe. But the two most infamous moments here happened to riders who were wearing yellow but not contesting the stage win.

In 1964 Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor were at the height of their rivalry. On the day of the stage to the Puy de Dôme, Anquetil wore yellow, 56 seconds ahead of Poulidor. On the final climb Anquetil and Poulidor went head to head, arms and shoulders clashing. After kilometres of duelling, Poulidor finally pulled away, finishing 42 seconds ahead of his rival. He’d taken time but not enough. Anquetil held on to claim his fifth Tour win in Paris. He later said that if Poulidor had taken the jersey from him that day he would have gone home.

In 1975 Eddy Merckx was also wearing yellow on the slopes of the Puy de Dôme and working hard to limit losses. As the line approached it looked like he had done enough to remain on track for a sixth Tour win when a fan broke from the crowd and punched the Belgian in the back, a violent strike against the Cannibal’s dominance. Merckx was hurt but finished and kept yellow. The damage was done though. He lost the jersey on the next stage and never wore yellow again.

With the single narrow road to the top making it difficult for the growing Tour circus to visit, the race last used the climb in 1988 with Denmark’s Johnny Weltz taking the honours. Today the road is closed to the public with a railway built on one side, making the Tour’s return to this famous volcano sadly all but impossible.