So you want to do a stage of the Tour de France?
If so, a bit
of preparation is useful!
I was inspired to have a go after purchasing my first lightweight racer, and being amazed how lively it was. I had no racing experience, but had enjoyed cycle touring for many years. These notes are written for anyone with a similar background who is wondering if they could do it too.
There are four key features in the Etape du Tour. To maximize your chances, it is worth training in all four aspects. They are:
(1) Distance.
Could you do 100 miles in a day? Perhaps you have
already. If not, you may need to build up your distance. You will be amazed
at what you can achieve!
I would suggest doing a well planned 100 mile run. Build up to this in stages if you have not done it before. To make it more interesting, you could cycle to visit a friend or relative who lives about 100 miles away, or plan an interesting route – preferably with a climb, and preferably down hill on the way home! Stow on the Wold via the Vale of the White Horse was my choice for my first 100.
Start early in the morning, at first light, and plan to be back before dark. Plan a café stop in the morning and afternoon, with a good lunch stop. Rests are in order at about hourly intervals, of about five minutes if you need them. Ride a bit below your normal short distance speed – for example if you normally ride at 15mph, 12 – 13mph might be about right.
You will need to build up your speed as the season progresses of course. It is obviously best not to attempt it in mid winter when the daylight hours are short, though even with only ten hours daylight, allowing a total of two hours of stops, at 12 miles an hour you would only be doing 20 minutes of the ride in darkness. My first 100 miler was in November. It was cold.
If possible it is useful to have someone available as a rescue service.
Choose a time when a close friend with a car and a phone is home all day
anyway!
(2) Speed.
You don’t need to go terribly fast to do the Etape
du Tour. Depending on the year and the course, a minimum average speed of 10 –
12mph is required to complete the course within the time limit.
You will, of course want to go faster than this, and bear in mind that the course is extremely mountainous. Correct pacing is very important. If you attempt to go too fast on the day you risk not getting there at all. That is particularly true this year at the course includes two severe climbs.
Having achieved 100 miles, you will then need to build your speed and power up.
I would suggest building your speed up gradually through the spring
to achieve a series personal goals – 5 miles at an average of 20 mph would
be a suitable goal to aim for by, say, April. Your
goal is your own individual one of course, though this was mine for the
‘96 etape. It is worth recording your times and see the improvement, then
to attempt to beat your own record. It is not wise to attempt this in very
cold weather, as excessive heavy breathing
in low temperatures may cause your core body temperature to drop excessively,
making you vulnerable to flu etc. High speed riding in winter needs a few
miles at an intermediate speed to warm up first at the very least.
A floodlit cycle track is very useful in winter if there is one near you.
(3) Mountains.
You need to practice long ascents and descents
with hairpin bends. If you live in the Alps, you are in luck. If you live where I do in
Oxfordshire there aren’t many. You may find some quite long climbs locally though.
The Chilterns and Cotswolds are local to me, and Wales is not far away. Reasonable hills
can be found in most areas.
Choose climbs with a similar gradient to those on the stage you intend to do, and mix short steep climbs with long gradual ones. Arrange your practice to represent the event as closely as possible. Remember you will not be able to apply the same power for several km as you can on a local 100 meter hill, so practice applying moderate power for long periods instead.
Of course, if you have the time and money, a training camp
in Mallorca, Spain or Italy fills the bill nicely!
Useful mountain training is still possible on the flat though.
It is possible to calculate the power required to climb a mountain
at a reasonable speed, then practice at the same power level on the flat.
I did this for the infamous ’98 Galibier etape, and it worked well. I refined this
in 2002 to ride at an optimum power, which made the course much easier if less exciting.
Let me know if you want to know the secret!
As a rough guide, you will need to be able to produce around
150 watts for a long time to tackle the climbs.
This is equivalent to 19mph on a fast bike on a flat road. This is only a rough guide,
and is for a combined bike + rider weight of 200lb.
This is about the fitness level you will
need. Do not despair if you fall short of this, but this is the sort
of fitness level you will need to set as a target. If you have an old touring bike, you will have
trouble achieving these speeds, and it is probably worth splashing out for a decent
bike with a good range of gears. You will probably be amazed at the difference.
(4) Pelotons.
Have you seen these amazing groups of racers cruising
along in a great bunch at around 20mph all day? It’s not as difficult as
it looks. Once you start slipstreaming a fast rider, or better still a
bunch of riders, your effort level drops dramatically. In a team, you can
take it in turns to lead, saving energy, and cruise along at relatively
high speeds.
In the Etape du Tour, you can often hook on to the back of a bunch, or you may even look round to find a bunch of 20 or even 100 riders slipstreaming behind you! This needs practice to do it safely, as you will have seen in the Tour de France crashes! Done with care it is fairly safe. Basically you need to keep at a reasonable distance, have a handy escape route if the person in front stops suddenly, and you need to anticipate the movements of the rider in front. For example, a rider starting to stand on his pedals will effectively lurch backwards. Also, you may not even know when there is someone on your back wheel. I didn’t on one occasion in the ’98 Etape as one unfortunate Italian found out. I think he was Italian judging by his choice of swear words as he picked himself up! So take care to check before stopping suddenly.
Peloton techniques need to be learned, for example by joining a local cycle club, going on a couple of audaxes, or by riding with friends. A cycle track is ideal if there is one near you, as you will encounter a variety of riders and riding techniques.
Risks. Doing the Etape du Tour is a genuine challenge. Out of the 7000 entries each year, there are sometimes injuries and sometimes even fatalities, due to medical incidents or through people leaving the road at altitude. It is a very demanding event. In 2000, 10% of the contestants suffered from hypothermia, and needed treatment. In 2001 many people froze descending Tourmalet in the rain at near zero temperatures. Many peope complained that their hands were too cold to operate the brakes! I was amazed that my hands still worked despite being numb with cold! It had not been obvious to me that gloves would be useful in the South of France in July! It is very important to have layers of clothing in reserve on mountain stages like this year's. Not everybody does! A spare long sleved top and light weight long sleeved windproof layer should fit in the back pocket of your racing jersey (with a bit of effort!) without weighing you down too much. In 2002, however we were caught out by fine weather all the way!
The organizers minimise risks as much as possible – the police are out in force, the roads are closed, there are ambulances in attendance and there are first aid posts.
Because of the health risks, you are required to obtain a signature from your GP to indicate that you are fit before you are allowed to enter the event.
The risks obviously vary according to the severity of the event. The 1998 event was high risk, with over 12000 feet of climb in 120 miles. Only 50% of those entering finished at all. There were even rumours of fatalities, and I met others who had retired with health problems. Entrants had a 50% chance of completing the event, and a 99.9% chance of surviving! The broom waggons were busy that year! By contrast, the 1999 event was easier and probably 90% entrants completed the course.
You can minimize the risk if you train to the right fitness level, then pace yourself according to your fitness level you have achieved. It is better to get to the top a bit more slowly than to collapse half way up! It also helps to have granny gears to fall back on if you need them, as even some of the macho contestants found out on the Ventoux year! High gears may feel macho when you are training, but tend not to when you grind to a halt half way up a mountain and start pushing your bike!
Despite the risks, I have personally found the Etape du Tour to be one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, with it’s excitement and challenge. I have enjoyed having something to train for, participating in a world class event, and visiting some very dramatic places. Equally enjoyable is sharing a common aim with people of all nationalities.
Above all – have fun!
Ron