Chris Carmichael Diary: L’Alpe d’Huez time trial
The Pyrénées did a lot of damage to the Tour de France peloton and to several riders’ chances of challenging for the yellow jersey. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of very strong men left in the race, and the next major challenge before them is stage 16’s individual time trial up L'Alpe d’Huez. The fabled climb, with its 21 numbered switchbacks, is a very difficult and technically demanding time-trial course. However, since it’s only 15.5km long, and it’s not coming at the end of a long road stage, I don’t expect any of the top riders to gain a big chunk of time. Riding by themselves,