Géant du Tourmalet

The Géant du Tourmalet (Giant des Tourmalet) is a sculpture that commemorates the first crossing of the Col du Tourmalet as part of the Tour de France in 1910 . Because the French cyclist Octave Lapize was the leading driver on this crossing, the sculpture has been nicknamed Octave le Géant .

The sculpture was created by the French artist Jean-Bernard Métais . It initially formed part of the much larger sculpture La Grande Boucle (the great loop). La Grande Boucle was created by Métais between 1995 and 1996 and is exhibited at a service area on the French A64 motorway . It represents the Tour de France in the French Pyrenees . In June 1999 the Géant du Tourmalet was spun off and installed for the first time on the Col du Tourmalet .

The Géant du Tourmalet is made of iron, is 3 m high, 2.40 m long and weighs 350 kg.

The sculpture is only exhibited at the top of the Col du Tourmalet pass during the summer season. This mountain pass is located at 2115 meters above sea level and is in the middle of a ski area in the winter season. Therefore, in winter, the sculpture is brought to the valley village of Gerde near Bagnères-de-Bigorre to protect it from the weather and to avoid accidents and is exhibited there. The Montée du Géant (Rise of the Giant) folk festival is held every first Saturday in June . The sculpture is driven back to the top of the pass in an open truck. This truck is accompanied in a kind of procession by over a thousand cyclists. Once at the top of the pass, the Géant du Tourmalet is then ceremoniously installed at its summer location.

Web links

Commons : Le Géant  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Le Géant ou Octave Lapize . Retrieved July 16, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Cyclisme: la statue du Géant retrouve le Tourmalet - 09/06/2008 - ladepeche.fr (French) . Retrieved July 16, 2015.
3. ↑ ^{a b} La Grande Boucle à Ger (64) (French) . Retrieved July 18, 2015.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Géante, l'épopée du Tourmalet - 26/06/1999 - ladepeche.fr (French) . Retrieved July 18, 2015.
5. ↑ Topographic map published by IGN Number 1747 ET, scale 1:25 000.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Montée du Géant du Tourmalet 2015 - Velo Peloton (English) . Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 16, 2015. 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Montée du Géant 2015 - YouTube (French) . Retrieved July 18, 2015.