For long-time bike racing fans, particularly those who started following the sport in the Channel 4 era of the mid-1980s, Superbagnères evokes two famous moments. The first came in 1986 – widely regarded as the best Tour de France vintage of all time – when the mountain provided the setting for an extraordinary duel between La Vie Claire team-mates Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond. The American won the stage as the Frenchman just about hung on to the yellow jersey.
Three years later, Philippa York (then known as Robert Millar) took her third Tour stage victory, while Laurent Fignon nudged LeMond out of the yellow jersey in the midst of their ding-dong battle that ran all the way to the Champs-Élysées.
