On the road to the Tour de France

With 13 years of Tour de France, Saint-Lary is one of the Pyrenees’ leading cycling destinations. The village has been a stage finish venue 13 times, most recently on July 13, 2024 at the Pla d’Adet resort. In 2018, there was a major first, with the ascent of the Col du Portet, which will be featured again in 2021, as a Tour finish. The Pla d’Adet has seen no fewer than 11 finishes since 1974.

It was here, on July 16, 1974, that the 38-year-old Raymond Poulidor’s final stage victory in the Tour de France took place. The riders set off from Seu d’Urgell, capital of the Alt Urgell comarca in Catalonia and an autonomous Spanish community, on a 209 km route. Up to Saint-Lary, not much had happened, apart from some classic attacks countered by the team-mates of yellow jersey E. Merckx. The riders were impressed by a road cut straight through the mountains, with a tough climb (up to 13.8% gradient). Poulidor, a great French personality, attacked on the first serious bend, crossing the line in the lead 10.7 km later. He finished 2nd overall on the Champs-Élysées, but a winner in hearts and minds.