The China Mail - Dutch riders dreaming of crazy party corner of Alpe d'Huez

Thousands of orange-clad, booze-fuelled cycling enthusiasts and young revellers flock to corner seven of Alpe d'Huez every time the Tour de France climbs the iconic mountain.

And they create a unique, noisy and hectic atmosphere -- even by Tour de France mountain pass standards.

This year, the Tour will head up the 21 Alpe d'Huez hairpins on Friday -- and some of the Dutch fans rocking to Europop tunes will have already been there for days by the time the peloton passes.

More Dutch riders have won a Tour de France stage on Alpe d'Huez than any other nationality, including the host country.

For Dutch riders in the Tour, this will be a poignant moment.

"It's a super special mountain, of course, Dutch Mountain and the famous corner seven," said Dutch rider Thymen Arensman before the Tour began.

Arensman has been on Dutch Corner before -- and not just for training rides.

"I have super special memories of this climb because when I was a little kid, like so many other Dutch people, I went there with my parents on holiday," said the 26-year-old Netcompany Ineos rider, who won two Tour stages last year.

"I was really keen and eager as a little child to do this climb also as fast as possible.

"So (I have) really good memories there from my childhood."

Arensman and his Netcompany team-mates trained on the Alpe d'Huez hairpins before the Tour began.

"We did the climb a few times, but the climb is still just as hard as I remember as a little kid," he added.

"The famous corner seven will be amazing."

Just getting to that point of the race this year will have been no mean feat, given how hard the 113th edition of the Grande Boucle has been.

A suffocating heatwave in the first 10 days, as well as record-breaking speeds have made this Tour tougher than almost any other in history.

But the hardest part of the race was saved for the end, with three consecutive uphill finishes in the Alps before Sunday's procession around Paris.

- 'Just a lot of suffering' -

For some riders, just getting to the end of the Alpe d'Huez stage within the time limit is the goal.

"The corner will be nice, the rest of the climb I'm not so sure," Frank van den Broek, riding his third Tour, told AFP.

"It will depend on how the legs feel and how tight the time limit will be that day.

"But for sure, the corner, I'm looking forward to (it)."

Daan Hoole, who is a Decathlon CMA CGM team-mate of teenage French prodigy Paul Seixas, is riding his first Tour.

"It's a hard stage but it's special with all the Dutch fans there so that will be for sure nice to see," he told AFP.

He and his brother used to watch the Tour as children growing up in the Netherlands.

"I dreamed always of the Tour. When I was watching it when I was younger with my brother, the next day we would play on the bike that we are one of these climbers and do like a small race," he said.

"Once you're in it, in your head you can romanticise it a lot, (but) when you're riding, it's also just a lot of suffering."

Now standing almost two metres tall and weighing more than 80kg, Hoole grew too much to be a talented climber.

He is a two-time national time-trial champion.

But as a kid, he dreamed of being like the Schleck brothers from Luxembourg.

"When I was starting watching cycling... Andy Schleck was doing really well and my brother was also cycling," Hoole said of the 2010 Tour champion.

"So, on the bike, you act a bit (like) you're the Schleck brothers.

"But once I became a cyclist, I realised quickly I wasn't a climber."

Frank Schleck won a stage atop Alpe d'Huez in 2006, while younger brother Andy rode the mountain in the race leader's yellow jersey in 2011.

R.Yeung--ThChM