Ruud Streefkerk

The Col du Tourmalet is a mountain pass in the Pyrenees that owes its name to a flood of the river Gave in the eighteenth century. Because of this flood, traffic was forced to take this pass. The name 'Tourmalet' means something like 'bad detour'. Long before the mountain became known by the Tour de France, it was mainly climbed by pilgrims or by shepherds with their flock. In the year 1910, the 2115 meter high mountain was included for the first time in the route of the Tour de France. The French cyclist Octave Lapize was the first cyclist to reach the top and since then the ascent of the Tourmalet has been part of the Tour almost every year, often as part of the so-called 'Queen's Stage', the toughest stage in the Tour. We also chose this 'bad detour', and not for the first time, because we are always impressed by this special landscape.