Professional cycling's 35 fastest times up Alpe d'Huez | Sticky Bottle

Lance Armstrong during the Alpe d'Huez TT at the 2004 Tour de France, though three of Marco Pantani's times were fastesr than him that day (Photo: Marc Pagani Photography)

Here’s a list that most riders would probably rather not be on, given the names that litter it. It’s the riders who have record the 30 fastest ascents of Alpe d’Huez in the history of the Tour de France.

There are slightly different definitions of where the climb starts. And because of that, the lists for cycling's fastest times up Alpe d'Huez can vary a little.

However, the variation only affects the order of the riders way down the list. That's because gaps of one or two seconds separate those riders. In some cases less than one second.

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But the riders at the top, as well as the years they recorded their fastest times, don't change from list to list. The gaps at the top are bigger so defining the climb as being a few hundred metres longer or shorter doesn't affect the order of the faster riders.

Of the 30 times, many were recorded by men we now know were drugs cheats, or who have been implicated in doping.

Two infamous names dominate the top of the list; Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong. The now deceased Pantani’s climbs of the mountain in 1994, 1995 and 1997 are the fastest ever.

They are even quicker that doped up Armstrong’s time trial ride up the feared climb in 2004. Between them, Pantani and Armstrong recorded all of the fastest four times.

The 1997 Tour was one of the most doped years, with the top three riders on the stage all in the top 10 times ever - Pantani, Jan Ullrich and Richard Virenque. And all have been exposed as some of the biggest dopers in the history of pro cycling.