Flares. Switchbacks. Baying crowds. Thousands of drunk Dutchmen. It doesn’t get better, louder or more iconic than Alpe d’Huez.

Placing what is one of the Tour’s most storied climbs (and with Mont Ventoux not featuring in this year’s race at all, perhaps the most storied climb) on the penultimate stage was a masterstroke by Tour director Christian Prudhomme.

Fans who had been on the mountainside for days to secure their places roadside were rewarded for their stoicism with an explosive final climb, where Quintana did what he had been promising to do for so long and distanced Froome. What followed was around 35 minutes of excruciating racing – at least for Sky fans it was excruciating, for the neutral it was delicious – as Froome tried his level best to rein in Quintana, as the Colombian jumped from rider to rider further up the road.

Quintana’s Movistar team-mate and compatriot, Winner Anacona, deserves a mention for the brutal drive he produced in support of his leader, pacing Quintana on the Alpe having earlier gone up the road. In the end the Quinterminator wasn’t quite able to get the 2:38 gap he was looking for to overturn Froome’s lead, but by the ghost of Marco Pantani, it was beautiful to watch him try.