Training guide · Gran fondo · to Les Saisies, France
How to train for L'Etape du Tour
11 July 2027. A Tour de France stage on closed roads, from Cluses over the Colombière and the Aravis to a steep finish above Les Saisies. Here is what the day asks of you, and when your plan has to start.
- Date
- Sun 11 Jul 2027
- Weeks to go
- —
- Start
- Cluses
- Routes
- 154 km
- Climbing
- 4,850 m
- Format
- Timed, wave start, closed roads
What this event asks of you
The Etape follows a Tour stage, and this one is front-loaded and back-loaded at once. The Col de la Colombière comes early and is long and steady, before the road crosses the Aravis and drops through the Arly valley into the Beaufortain. The decisive climbing is at the end: the Col du Pré above Lac de Roselend, and then the Bisanne, which is steep for most of its length and arrives when you have been riding for hours. The finish at Les Saisies is close to the top of the Bisanne, so there is no recovery before the line.
Closed roads and a huge field make the first climb feel like a race. It is not. Riders who follow wheels up the Colombière pay for it on the Bisanne, where the gradient does not let you hide in a group. The physiology this asks for is simple to name and slow to build: enough aerobic base to arrive at the final climb with your legs intact, the muscular endurance to hold a steady effort on a sustained steep grade, and the discipline to fuel from the first hour. Heat in the valleys is a regular feature of July in the Alps, so practise drinking on long climbs and plan how you will take on fluid at the feeds.
The day by rider level
| Route | Typical finish | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| 154 km | 7 to 11 h | Aerobic base to reach the Bisanne intact, muscular endurance on a long steep grade, fuelling and drinking in heat |
When your plan has to start
Counted back from the event date. If the organiser moves the date, these move with it.
Key climbs
- 1Col de la Colombière
- 2Col des Aravis
- 3Col du Pré
- 4Bisanne
In order along the route as published by the organiser. Gradient, length and where each climb sits in the day will come from the route engine once the organiser's GPX is loaded. Until then this list is hand-written from the route, with no figures attached.
Other guides for the same block of the year
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