Ballon d'Alsace, a 1247 m peak in the Vosges, often dubbed as "the first real climb of Tour de France", was introduced to the race on the 2nd stage of the third edition on 11 July 1905.
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| Action on Ballon d'Alsace during Tour de France 1906 |
Not being involved in the big dramas of the Alps and the Pyrenees, nowadays the ascent seems a bit overlooked. Of course, it's hard to gain special attention when a climb is a mid-stage program element, frenquently used on transitional stages. But there were also a few times, when a stage finished on the top of the ascent, mostly in the 1960s and the 1970s.
I must admit, I myself paid a little to none attention to the ascent for a long time before I've learned that it was the "fist climb" of the Tour de France. (Actually, the cyclist already had to climb some ascents, like the Col de La République at the very first Tour de France in 1903, so technicslly it wasn't.)
And even after that, I can hardly recall any memorable moment happened on the Ballon d'Alsace in the recent 10-15 years.
Anyway, historically, the Ballon d'Alsace is an important milestone in the history of Tour de France and it still used to appear in the program frequently, even more than a century after its inauguration.
During Tour de France 2026, Ballon d'Alsace will be part of Stage 13.