My hardest race ever - Étape du Tour 2023
It's recognised as the biggest cyclosportive race in the world, 15 000 people sign up every year to try and accomplish the gruelling course offered by the organisers. And this year, I took part !
What’s the Étape du Tour?
It’s pretty much what the name suggests, every year ASO the organisers of the Tour de France run an event which is aimed at amateur cyclists, the objective is to give people the opportunity to race on closed roads following the same route as the professional race, only one week before them. This year’s race started in Annemasse, a small city just outside of Geneva and finished in my home town of Morzine, 152km on paper with about 4100m of climbing.
So not the longest stage ever when you take into account that the pro peloton often race more than 180km during the three weeks of the Tour de France, but with 4100m of climbing it was most definitely hard enough.
The route takes some of the most beautiful cols in the département de la Haute-Savoie, which was the objective this year because the region is hosting the UCI world championships in 2027 and hosting the Étape helps promote the event. During the 152km of racing, we get incredible views of the Lac Léman when we go over the Col de Saxel and the Col de Cou, not that I took much time admiring them, but I did however have plenty of time to appreciate the views across to the Mont Blanc when I was climbing up Ramaz and the Col de Joux Plane.
Getting ready for such an event
You may think to yourself that I had loads of time to properly train myself for the 6 or more hours I’d be spending on my bike but no, my main objective is being ready for next winter so altering my preparation for the étape du tour was not an option. Especially when you take into account that originally my trainer wasn’t too keen on me taking part but with a little bit of negotiating I managed to convince her to let me race. And in the end, I wasn’t the only athlete from my training group to race, Théo Guiraud-Poillot took part and a few of the athletes from the men’s A team were on the start line as well.
One of the big things I changed coming into this year (with the étape in mind) was my bike. For years now I had been riding my Dad’s Boardman cyclocross bike, the bike worked great but it was too big, very heavy and a little outdated. So I took to the web and started looking for my new bike, and after a tip-off from a friend I came across a Canyon Ultimate which fit perfectly with what I was looking for and it was within the correct price range. So I quickly ordered it and a few months later it was delivered. Much different to what I was used to riding because I now had electric gears thanks to the SRAM Etap AXS groupset and some very sleek-looking fully integrated cabling with an integrated cockpit. I was very excited (as everyone is when they receive a new bike) and my anticipation for the race only grew bigger.
The thing you often do when you get ready for a race like this is doing a reconnaissance ride for some of the climbs and especially some of the descents, because when you’re riding with 15 000 other people it really helps to know the terrain. Luckily the étape this year was held in my own region so I knew most of the route already. The only part I didn’t know was the first bit, all the way from the start up to the bottom of the Col du Feu about 42 km. I could have driven round and then cycled up the two first cols to take a look but I didn’t find the time so surprise it was. The rest of the route I knew quite well, especially the last climb up to the top of Joux Plane which I’d done many times before and knew quite how hard it was going to be already.
So much anticipation, what was I feeling before
As the date approached I was getting more and more excited about the race, it’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever signed myself up for and the excitement levels were high. But I had to focus because I was on a training camp with the team up until the Wednesday before the race and then I still had a strength session in the gym two days before. You may be thinking to yourself that’s not the best way to get ready for the race but you have to remember I’m training to be ready for this winter not for a race in the middle of the summer.
I had set myself an objective of under 6h30 to finish the race, a reasonable time but I’d still have to push quite hard to accomplish it. My trainer had instructed me and my teammate to be reasonable and not absolutely ruin ourselves. A good tip because she knows what’s in store for us over the rest of the summer and she didn’t want us to be completely knackered. It’s the longest I’ve ever cycled and it’s double the most amount of climbing I’ve ever done in one training session so it was quite a task I was about to start.
The day before I went for a short 1h30 ride around town to check the bike was all fitted correctly and everything was running smoothly. This just made my excitement rise again because as I was riding there were loads of other people setting off on their pre-race day ride as well. I’d never seen so many people riding road bikes around Morzine before so it was very cool. The next thing I had to get ready was nutrition because over such a long distance eating correctly is essential if you don’t want to completely explode by the end of it. Mum had just bought some beetroot energy and protein bars from Koro so I packed a couple of them and prepared two bottles of Go Hydro from Science in Sport for the best hydration during the race.
Alarm set, it’s race day
04h00, that’s what time I woke up in the morning, very early that’s for sure, but I had to be in my starting pen for 06h30 and there was a little bit of a drive down to Annemasse to get ready. But the main reason is that I wanted to eat 3h before the start of the race so I had time to digest properly. Nothing special for breakfast, a good bowl of porridge for some slow carbs and two eggs with a slice of ham for some protein, and can’t forget the glass of orange juice.
07h12 was the time my pen was allowed to leave (there are 15 starting pens each with approx. 1000 riders), I was in group 2 which is quite a good start group so I was going to leave with some very keen riders who had completely different objectives to me. We left off really really fast, much faster than I should have gone. As I passed the top of the Col de Saxel I was still with the leading group from my pen with an average speed of 28km/h on the strava segment. I quickly let the group go however because they were all much better than me going down the hill (descents are not my strong point).
The next two cols went alright as well, I was feeling really good and quite excited after the fast start. 28mins up the Col du Cou and a strava PR in 25mins up the Col du Feu. I stop for my first feed zone at the top of Feu to refill my bottles and grab a couple of gels. We had only done 53km by that point which meant I still had 100 to go… But I was within the time objective I’d set for getting to Mieussy in under 3h. The long trip from the Col du Feu all the way to Mieussy was accomplished at great speed as well as I set PRs along the whole traverse, I had a great group with me which was great because they helped push me along and keep me motivated.
A quick stop in Mieussy for some salty food (which there was none of) as I was starting to feel some cramps coming. By that time I knew I had to slow down a lot or I was never getting over the last Col before Morzine. I did just that, I got to the top of Ramaz 10mins off my record but still felt reasonably alright. A quick trip down to Taninges, across to Samoëns with another great group who pulled me all the way along and then one final stop before the last Hors Catégorie climb up to Joux Plane.
Joux Plane was really hard, and straight from the beginning with some of the steepest percentages right at the start of the climb. But I pushed on mentally and with the cheers coming from the crowd and the help provided by some people giving out water along the climb I made it to the top and crossed the finish line (times were stopped at the top of the col because the descent down to Morzine is dangerous). The cramps, even though I could feel them coming kept away and my legs somehow kept turning all the way to the top.
Verdict, post-race thoughts
It was absolutely amazing, such a great experience and I’ll happily do it again. I finished the race in 06:21:43 just below the objective I’d set myself before the race so I can only feel accomplished about that. Check out my Strava session here. It was hard, extremely hard, especially when you do like me and head off like a bullet much faster than you’ve ever ridden before and expect to stay that fast during the whole race but I still finished. The last climb up to the finish line was the hardest because if I started turning my legs a little too hard I’d instantly get a cramp and then you have no choice but to stop for a minute and stretch so it was a constant mental battle getting to the top. Mentally I found finishing the Étape du Tour so much harder than racing during the winter. In the winter my races are no longer than 45mins and they fly past, here when you’re fighting against yourself for more than 6h in the scorching heat you have to be very strong.
But once you’ve crossed the finish line and met up with your friends you get an immense sense of accomplishment. Whatever time you finish the race in, just getting across that finish line and receiving your medal is amazing. The people along the route cheering you on, all the volunteers at the start, the finish and in the feed zones were super helpful and really encouraging. The worst part for me about the day is the fact I finished last in the battle with my teammates so I lose bragging rights until our next race happens, but I should recover from that one.
Now it’s time for a couple of days without sport, recovering from what just happened and refocusing on the main objective which is the rest of the summer training before my first roller ski races in the autumn. I should hopefully get the chance to race again before the end of July, not a cycling race but something more focused on the times I race during the winter. A good 10km trail run is perfect and should fit much nicer into my training.
Finally, if you have any questions about my experience before, during or after the Étape du Tour be sure to reach out to me through my socials I’ll be happy to answer!