Luz Ardiden is a ski resort situated in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Midi-Pyrénées. The ski resort resides at a height of around 1720 meters and was opened on January 16, 1975. The road to Luz Ardiden was also built in the 1970s. The road to Luz Ardiden has been a stage finish for both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. The ascent can be started from the town of Luz-Saint-Sauveur. The climb of Luz Ardiden is in some ways similar to Alpe d'Huez with around 30 switchbacks to the summit. The steepest part of the ascent comes around the village of Grust where the gradient ramps up to 12%. At around the 4km mark from the summit the tree coverage ends and the scenery opens up.
The grand tour stages including or finishing at Luz Ardiden have been won by Pedro Delgado 1985, Miguel Indurain 1990, Richard Virenque 1994. Laurent Jalabert won the stage in 1990 including Luz Ardiden in the La Vuelta.
In the 1990 Tour de France, stage 16, Claudio Chiappucci, in yellow, over 2mins on GC ahead of Greg Lemond, attacks on Col d'Aspin. Chiappucci is caught by the Lemond group at the bottom of Luz Ardiden. Chiappucci maintains pace with Lemond and his time 2min 34sec advantage.
On the final ascent of the day on Luz Ardiden, Fabio Para, followed by Lemond attacks at around 8km from the finish.
Para is dropped and Lemond continues to surge ahead with Indurain, who wins the stage followed by Lemond who finished 6 seconds later. At the end of the day Lemond gained 2min 19sec at the Luz Ardiden summit finish and subsequently went on to win the Tour de France in 1990.
Country: FRANCE
Mountain range: French Pyrenees
Distance: 12.5km
Elev Gain: 913m
Avg Grade: 7.3%
Max Grade: 12%
Climb cat: HC
Min Elevation: 725m
Max Elevation: 1636m
Suggested Airport: Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées
Suggested Train Station: Gare de Tarbes
Website: http://www.luz.org/en/
