First the party, then the race at turn seven of the Alpe d’Huez

They are an exception to the rule on this warm Thursday. A group of ten friends from Zeeland gather under a blue party tent just after 1 pm. Agreed work, their eyes are now focused on the television screen they brought with them. The craziness in turn seven, known as the Dutch bend on the Alpe d’Huez, may be slowly working towards the climax, but the group wants to follow the twelfth stage of the Tour de France completely.

Especially now, during one of the most attractive editions in years, especially for the TV viewer. But where many cycling enthusiasts were looking forward to this mountain stage, in which the peloton has to cross three cols of the outside category, the party is central in turn seven. A mini version of King’s Day, on a few hundred meters of asphalt on a French mountain. On the French National Day even this time, quatorze juillet.

Cool boxes, beach chairs, folding tables, everything has been dragged up. Some fans have already set up their tent in the corner on Monday, others arrive sweaty during the morning.

The barbecue smell spreads around noon. Between sips of beer, the hordes of amateurs cycling uphill are encouraged as if they were pros. Children and women in particular receive a physical or verbal push in the back. It works, because almost every rider, no matter how broken after a seven kilometer climb, comes out of the bend with a smile.

Public as an attraction

The audience in turn seven is itself the attraction, and it knows it. Even the pros, who gradually get closer to the day, have a supporting role. They just can’t, like many amateurs do, take their phones out of their shirts to capture the excitement in the corner.

Even when the peloton has left the starting place Briançon long and wide, everything revolves around the party. Even after Wednesday’s stage, a spectacle full of surprises. Only a few Englishmen let their tongues be heard when someone says that the British Thomas Pidcock and Chris Froome are in the leading group. Dutch fans mainly hope for a compatriot in the leading group. Bauke Mollema’s name often sounds, although that seems to be mainly because his name fits rhythmically well.

Turn seven is the last important Dutch achievement on the mountain that is becoming increasingly international. On the way up you’ll find a Norwegian corner, lots of German tricolors and Australian flags – also in turn seven. Groups of French youths put on an orange shirt and join, noisily, among the Dutch. A group of four Britons from Manchester travel a total of four days to get into the party the Dutch corner attend this Thursday.

Dutch mountain

It all confirms the value of the Alpe d’Huez for the Tour de France. The summit of the Alps as the largest cycling stadium in the world. But the fact that the mountain is still appropriated by the Dutch is mainly due to that one bend. Not by the results. In 1989 Gert-Jan Theunisse was the last Dutchman to win on top of L’Alpe. Many of the fans present did not experience that in person. Joop Zoetemelk also won, twice, just like Peter Winnen.

Geerd Kroeze from Nunspeet thinks it remains a bend that you should have visited as a Dutch cycling enthusiast. He and part of his family – not everyone likes cycling – sat down early on a patch of grass in the bend. Erik van Gorkum from Arnhem also saw the images of the hedge of cycling fans on television and knew that he had to stand by the side here. He has just released his brother on the climb, but the two meet again at turn seven.

It’s a mix of debutants and regulars from Huez, both in the peloton and in the crowd; those who are amazed at almost naked adult men running by and those who don’t look up at that moment but just open their umpteenth can of beer. Those who know exactly where to stand when the advertising caravan comes by to catch the cycling caps and other accessories, and those who want to quickly cross the road.

The fact that the Tour stage is a somewhat less spectacular variant this day than Wednesday’s mountain stage is lost on almost everyone in turn seven. Here are the highlights in quick succession. And if there is nothing to celebrate for a while, a new number is used. The hours of waiting for the peloton, which first has to cross the Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer, is no punishment.

And yet, as the television helicopters fly over the mountain, the tension mounts. Agents, including two Dutch, keep the public tight behind a string. Just after the bend, on a somewhat steeper part, it soon becomes apparent that this is not really possible. When stage winner Thomas Pidcock gets through the first turn seven, the two sides slide together. Taco van der Hoorn is almost clamped. For sprinter Fabio Jakobsen, the hedge of fans is the last push he needs to not finish outside the time.