Vingegaard, Pogacar fall short of Col de la Madeleine climbing record

The climb was first introduced to the Tour de France in 1969 and has featured 27 times since. The Madeleine has been ranked hors catégoire in every edition that the climb has appeared since 1995. 

Its inclusion on stage 18 of the 2025 edition is the first time since 2020 that the Tour de France peloton will tackle its slopes.

On that occasion, stage 17, Richard Carapaz was the leader at the summit, before the stage finished on the Col de la Loze, as it will do in 2025, where Miguel Ángel López claimed the stage win.

Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich hold the joint record for the fastest ascent of the Col de la Madeleine, climbed from La Chambre, from the 1998 edition of the Tour. The record of 52:40 was set on stage 16, when it was - a rarity - the final climb of the stage. Ullrich had lost yellow to Marco Pantani the previous day at Les Deux Alpes, but he responded with a fierce attack on the Madeleine. 

Pantani was the only rider to follow Ullrich's acceleration, and he followed the German all the way to the summit. Ullrich won the sprint for stage victory in Albertville, the second of three he would claim in that edition, but he would finish second overall behind Pantani in Paris.

On stage 18 of the 2025 Tour, Visma | Lease a Bike set a brisk pace on the climb to isolate Pogacar before Vingegaard attacked just under 5km from the summit. Pogacar followed, and they bridged up to the early break, completing the mighty climb in