This year I did the Etape du Tour a week before IM Hamburg. Rather than learn from my mistakes, next year I have entered the Etape du Tour a week ahead of Roth
The 2020 Etape is in Nice, one of my favourite cities, the course looks stunning, and much less challenging than 2019. Since I had a top 1000 finish last year, I will be seeded in the first wave.
Better get entries in soon, apparently sold out in 4 days last year
Seems pretty straightforward compared to last year! Iâm racing IM on the 12th July, so canât see this being considered sensible, notwithstanding your prior demonstration itâs possible!
Iâm a bit confused though ⊠both Roth and the Etape are on 5th July from what I can see???
Luckily I realized that before I put my entry in.
Iâve zero experience of this sort of thing ⊠but that looks a bit soft for an etape doesnât it? Or have i just been desensitised by watching too much of the pro race over the past few years? 3.5k of climbing in 180km doesnât seem that big a deal? Or is it more about the fact youâre riding on a stage of the tour as opposed to being a savage event in itself?
There was definitely an element of it being a pretty cool experience to have some of the razzmatazz that goes with âthe Tourâ, and the closed road descents were a lot of fun.
But in general, Iâd agree. I finished this yearâs saying it was the hardest thing Iâd done. Way harder than IM (altho that may well be down to relative preparation for the two). However, the 2020 one looks like I could probably do it tomorrow if I took my time.
Nice is nice though. And if timing had been better, I may have considered it just as a fun trip and a good training day. You just canât get those kind of climbs in this country, and I donât think Iâd ever be as confident on the descents as you can be when you know itâs 100% closed roads, so a diy training weekend isnât entirely the same.
when I did it in 07, Fois to Loudenvielle, 127m, 5 mountains, 30odd degrees, tarmac melting down inclines, many getting off and pushing or hiding in the shade. Mentally, toughest event I have ever done. Even tho 10odd hours was never going to get me a podium, it was a nice event and achievement, esp not pushing bike or getting off and chlling in the shade.
The blocked off to traffic 127 miles were fun as well, especially passing the all of the ambulances down the moutains!!
Have you seen that penultimate stage on the tour?! TT finishing on La Planche des Belles Filles 36km and about 700m+ ascent! At the end of a savage 3 weeks. Brutal!
That resonates with my experience this year. Except it was âonlyâ 135k and 3 mountains (but totalling nearly 65k of climbing). And the temps hit 40 on my Garmin mid way up the final climb. As you say, the amount of people hugging the cliff face up to Val Thorens was pretty remarkable. It was as if people had become vampires!
Mentally toughest event sums up my thoughts exactly!
I now see itâs only stage 2 of the race. Makes a bit more sense as to why it isnât a beast now.
I have to say, that sounds pretty thrilling!
I did this on the Friday before the Etape, but went up the Courcheval side and down the Meribel route. It was savage enough the way we did it. Everyone we met at the top who had done it the other way was saying how much harder it was from the other side. Just riding down, there were a couple of points I felt close to falling over the handlebars! The Courcheval side had only opened a couple of months before, and the Meribel side only a couple of weeks. So it doesnt surprise me they donât even have a stage profile for that one yet! Itâs going to be cozy at the top ⊠thereâs not much space for more than the finish line. There is a fairly flat expanse a short way down the Courcheval side, near one of the main ski lifts, so that might be where all the podiums etc will be.
Interesting to see theyâve stuck the Cormet de Roseland in the route again. That was the bit they had to cut on the final Saturday this year, that we did as the first climb on the Etape. Although looks from the stage profile like they are doing it in reverse. Maybe Beaufort etc, had paid a fair bit of money last year and ASO needed to keep them sweet!
It used to be the queen stage of the tour but in recent years I think they have kowtowed to all the mamils who donât have time to train and lose weight (if needed) but want to do it. So it is often a âmid levelâ stage.
In 2012, which was the hardest of the etapes Iâve done, I think about 1/3rd of the field finished after the cut off.
Definitely not the case last year. Was apparently one of the hardest oneâs theyâve done.
I think logistics play a large part. For example, the Col de la Loze stage would be impossible to host the Etape due to the lack of any space at the finish whatsoever (hence my surprise itâs hosting a summit finish even for the main race). So each year, they only have so many mountain stages to choose from that can deal with the masses of riders that the Etape brings