You did great out there today!
Hope the crashed riders are ok, but their season is done from what I hear. Happened a couple minutes in front of me … saw the carnage well before the ambulance arrived.
I asked a few of the Haute Route staff about it yesterday afternoon and it sounds like the two riders were okay otherwise. Thankfully should be dry and mildly sunny today for us, but staying upright is still the #1 goal. Good luck out there!
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Incredible that this happens on neutralized descents. Although, to be fair, the level of descending is quite different to the level of climb. I am an average descender, but comfortably pass a lot of people on the way down.
How did your second day go? Hope you both managed to enjoy it.
Myself, I finished 22nd and unsurprisingly stayed 22nd in the 7-day GC. Had a strong effort up Saisies and managed to have an efficient stop and quick enough descent to join the front group for the ride in the valley. Unfortunately, no cooperation in the group. I tried to attack to bridge to the breakaway, but as no one joined I gave up. Tried again a few k’s later with a couple of guys on the downhill, but unfortunately lost my saddle bag over a speedbump. Lost that group and the chasing peloton collecting it. Being furious with myself luckily the nr.1 in GC joined me coming from behind (had been helping someone with a broken chain) and I could sit in his wheel as he bridged to the peloton. There the tempo had slowed again as we made our way to the final climb, the Col de La Loze.
Here immediately chose my own tempo when the real climb started (8% gradients). Managed to keep it steady until the famous bike path started, picking up some riders who had started the climb to hard trying to follow the better climbers in the race. The final k’s with ramps over 20% hurt, but I managed to drag myself up overtaking two more riders.
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Congrats on holding steady in the top 25! Another day in the front corral so you don’t have to jostle with everyone in neutral sections. Always boggles the mind why folks NEED to start near the front, only to slide to the back by the timed start anyways for lack of speed or group riding abilities.
I probably went too hard today, but I was obligated to spend as much time in the George Hincapie group as possible. He won a race in San Francisco when I was in elementary school and first getting into watching the Tour de France, and it was such a cool experience to get to spend much of the day with him.
28th on the day for the 7-days, 35th total including the 3-days. Moved up a few spots to 33nd on GC.
Did Saises and Loze with a few other guys who broke off the front of the Hincapie group, but otherwise followed their wheels from the Saises descent all the way through to the early parts of the Loze. I almost lost my bottles several times on those speed bumps, so definitely understand how you lost your saddle bag. The steep bits of the Loze were a struggle coming at the tail end of a very long timed section, but what a view from the top. Gorgeous.
As importantly, the wife is finally keeping solid food down and may try to make the start tomorrow. They’ve been bussing the DNS/DNF in the broom wagon, so she can always wait for it if it’s still an issue. Haven’t been sleeping much due to the elevation and the shared frustration over her experience.
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Thanks for coming by and saying hi!
Elevation and travel definitely got the better of me too. Barely slept and could barely hold low tempo for the second half of Loze. Managed to pick up some spots in GC, but was hoping to be a lot closer to 230W/3.6wkg NP (held 210W/3.3wkg) on Loze. Kept it steady though through the entire timed section, happy with the result. Too tired to post much more now. Hopefully I got enough carbs in me today, definitely didn’t yesterday.
I was riding (sea level) mid-high zone 2 for much of the latter half of the Loze. Between the elevation and the group accordion effect on the long flat, I didn’t think too much about power and just let RPE take over.
Hopefully you were able to get some sleep and that today will be a bit more steady. Looks like it’ll start really warming up though.
Slept like a log last night, hoping that helps today! Hope you and your wife have a great day out there.
How did you all find the queen stage? I was amazed how hard the front blasted away at the foot of the Madeleine.
Managed to keep it steady on all three climbs, averaging just under 300 watts. As my ranking steadily improved after each climb I finished as 22nd for the 3rd day running. Moved up to 20th in GC.
Really happy to get extra rest today. Needed the extra sleep and hope to put in a decent TT today. Not planning on going all-out with a couple of tough days left. But hopefully able to finally get up the Alp within the hour. Good luck again today!
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This thread has been a cool experience since it’s providing different perspectives across just the top 50 or so riders. I know I have no business being at the pointy end, so I’ve not even glimpsed the front group rolling away at the starts of these climbs. Congrats on having to fitness to experience it and to not have to fight your way to the front on neutral sections (yesterday was particularly sketchy with a rider slamming into my wife from behind because he wasn’t paying attention to everyone braking).
Queen stage was good overall, but I was dealing with heavy front brake rub the entire ride because of a loose rotor. Setting aside whatever watts were being drained away, it was just distracting to hear with every wheel revolution on climbs that long. I readjusted everything last night, so fingers crossed that it stays true today. Regardless, legs felt pretty steady the entire day and I came in 37th to move up to 29th on GC.
Same as you, not planning to go all out on AdH today. It’s my first time up, so I’d rather be able to enjoy it a bit and save some energy for the second half of the week.
Best of luck on the TT!
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Congrats on moving up further in GC. Really impressive considering both the issues with your wife and mechanical issues yesterday. We are only a few places apart, so I’ll look out for you today and the days after.
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You guys are absolutely killing it! Don’t short change yourself, you’re putting out the power needed to get near the top.
Queen stage was tough. No two ways about that honestly. I felt good after Loze, and went conservative. After a while though, my being conservative was still a hit pace, so held a steady low tempo all day long. Didn’t get the result I hoped for, dropped a couple spots on GC, but I was just happy to crest Glandon.
Madeleine was a great climb, I really enjoyed that. Struggled to keep the power low and not get excited, but would have paid otherwise. The heat started to do me in early, and went through 2x750mL carb mix with 5km to go. Took a good rest at the top, got chilly and went down.
Glandon wasn’t too bad to start, but the top broke me. I was barely able to hold 215W which isn’t quite enough for me to turn the pedals efficiently. Heat was bothering me, and I was properly cooked by the top. Almost got hit by an old driver pulling out of that parking lot too, as I was crawling in at 3km, ready to topple over. The descent though? Well worth it, wow … my favorite so far.
AdH was mentally taxing. Nothing particularly difficult, but starting 1000m of gain after that long of a day means anything is difficult. Made my way up slowly, holding 210-220 the entire way, and was glad to have that day over. Definitely had a spritz on the terrace to mark the end of that ride, as we watched many late riders coming through.
In hindsight, I wish I had tried to hold 230W all day, but I’m not sure I could have to be honest. Maybe tomorrow…
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Time trial was a proper suffer fest. Held good power for first 3rd, working well with another rider. Kind of surprised me to see him not cut in on any switchbacks, so I’d put a few second gap on each and he’d catch back on. He fell off around bend 13 or 14, but must have gotten a second wind as he passed me 15 mins later and I never saw him again!
Middle third was really tough mentally, until I saw 5km to go. Then just tried to push, which was helped by picking up a friend from my group. Once I saw 5km to go, I know it was almost done and I could wrap my head around it.
Put in a big dig for the last bump before the official segment ends and managed 56:14, which was more just under my 57m goal. That brought enough motivation to pick up speed … until I turned left at the second last roundabout 
traffic wasn’t controlled properly so they let a car in right in front. I didn’t see the sign to go straight and they didn’t signal … I went a little up the hill before realizing I’m screwed. Turned around, hammered to get back, and ended up clipping my pedal on the last roundabout … kept it upright and came in at just over an hour. A little bummed as I had hoped for under an hour, but even with the wrong turn I wouldn’t have made it.
New day tomorrow. Looking at the profile, seems being in a group is the key to Lauteret and start of Granon. The rest is is going to be brutal, so here we are …
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Seems you’re foing well and managing to achieve the goals you set out for (like a sub hour Alp performance). Something you should be really proud of, especially on day 4 of a stage race. Really get the feeling now its all about recovery and what your body can handle.
For me, the TT went well yesterday. Managed to hold a higher power than expected and finished comfortably within the hour. Crushing the times of my two previous efforts up the official segment. Really happy with that.
However, today was a different story. Attacked with two other from the gun to gain some time in the flatter segment before the relatively steep early parts of the Lautaret. Felt immediately that my body was not up to that (nauseous). Had a really hard time staying with the lead group of about 40 riders, despite this terrain really suiting me as a bigger rider. Managed to help my mate a little bit by soft pedalling at the front as he had broken away (but got caught in the end).
Really took time to refuel at the top of the Lautaret. This helpt a little and managed to sonewhat limit the damage on the Granon. Still in 20th, but will be tough to hold on as two or three guys are closing in. Hope to feel better tomorrow.
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Day 6 over, I was proper cracked today. I haven’t kept up on recovery and nutrition last couple days, so was struggling today up Bonnet.
Started the day out exhausted and was going to have a chill ride down, until I wasn’t. Got into the front group on the neutral and went absolutely full gas. Turns out that was probably a mistake, but what can you do. Group split on the descent and I hit the wall from the second group back. Rolled through to the front for a few seconds and tried to get the climb over with. Spiked the power much too high for much too long, before realizing I’ll blow up and reeled it back in. Bit silly to burn up that early, but excitement got the better of me. Made up a few minutes on that first timed segment, which came back to bite me. The descent and fast section through the roundabouts was full sketch. Too many people have no clue how to descend and the signaling was lacklustre. Guy in front fully locked his brakes to make a roundabout turn, causing me to lock up too, thankfully everyone staying upright.
Rolled down the hill easy and found myself in a group with @llomqm. 3-4 guys rolled off and it turned into a sprint to catch back on. Legs felt great until the climb proper hit and then I started to feel the morning effort hit me. Managed to keep things very steady, hauling a small group up the first 6-7km until surges started and I decided let it go. The flat section really threw me off and I struggled to hold power up for rest of the climb. Lost all the time I gained earlier, and then some, but was just happy to crest and get some real food in me.
Climbed the entirety of Bonnet with a guy from my group. He kept the pace steady the entire way, pulling me along while I barely held top of my endurance. I died many times up the climb and lost 10 minutes easily. Was glad we didn’t need to do the kicker at the end! That climb is just an endless drag … the altitude was absolutely killer after 2000m. I could barely drink, couldn’t eat, breathe or think.
Gorgeous descent down from the top, absolutely endless and stunning views! Got to the bottom of the Auron climb and saw the rest stop littered with bodies. Everyone looked to be in a bad shape, mentally and physically. Hung out probably too long, as legs did not want to work once I got going. Attempted a sweet spot effort which lasted some 7-8 mins, before my steady riding friend caught me and once again dragged my sorry ass up the climb.
Finished the day one up on the GC and now three of us from my tour sit separated by 50s. Barring a catastrophic result, it seems I’ll finish in the 50-56th spot on GC. I was hoping for a better placing before the race started, but after day 1 I just wanted to stay in the 50-60 range.
Looking at the updated timing for tomorrow, somewhat glad for making the full descent neutral. That’s a very sketch section, and though I’d probably pick up a few seconds on it, it isn’t worth the risk or mental toll.
See you guys in Nice! Stay safe tomorrow, everyone’s tired and liable to make mistakes.
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Well, it’s over. Hope you both finished safely and well in Nice and managed to enjoy the last few days.
From a racing perspective, mixed feelings about the last two stages. Felt pretty bad on stage 6. Stayed with the front group in the descent towards the Mur and watched 40/50 riders blast past me at the bottom. Good luck with that.
Hammered it with 4 other guys (you probably were in our group @sasa) on the flat lead up to the Col de Vars. This included my friend who was fighting for podium in his age category. Had to drop just before we joined the front group of the lower slopes of the Vars, but is was great to be able to help a friend and have fun racing. Tried to pace the Vars, but the numbers were 20 watts lower than earlier days. Luckily, @llomqm (thanks buddy) caught me and paced me beautifully nearly to the top. Was suffering like a pig in his wheel, but managed to limit the losses for GC.
The Bonette, however, was a different story. Suffered and couldn’t hold any significant pace on that climb. Luckily, that descent was awesome and lifted my spirits. Tried to go full gas on the last climb to Auron, but again the power just wasn’t there. Just managed to keep it at tempo power for 25 minutes for an RPE of 9/10. Dropped to 23rd in GC.
Woke up for the seventh and last day feeling surprisingly good. Had a plan to challenge two guys who were just above me in GC and who I had taken time on before on descents and less long/steep climbs. With nearly 25 minutes cushion towards nr. 24 in GC I wasn’t too worried about dropping further down. However, as the organisation (rightly) fully neutralized the first 36k, this would be more difficult. I started the St. Martin at the front of the first group, pulling a steady pace for my friend. However, as soon as the top guys surged I dropped. Ended up in the third group, working well with a Brazilian rider, dropping four other riders out of our group. Rode it steady to the top, power numbers were more or less back where they were earlier that week (315 watts, or 4.2 w/kg). At the top, found a great group for the descent towards two shorter and shallower climbs. We were going well and working together until disaster struck and I got a pinch flat (going 60km per hour). Managed to control the bike, but couldnt get the tire off. Had to wait for help from Mavic, losing 17 minutes in the timed segment. Fearing I would drop down further in GC I went full gas to limit losses on the next two climbs. Later found out my friend flatted in nearly the some place, losing 5 minutes and with that the front group and his podium place in his age group.
So, an easy ride down to Nice before the last timed segment up to the chateau. Not knowing exactly how much I had lost on GC I did one last effort, managing 400 watts for just under 4 minutes. In the end, still had nearly a 15 minute cushion in GC, but finished approximately 17 minutes, or more or less the same I lost with the flat, behind nr. 21 and 22 in GC. All part of racing though, and look back really positively to the event and my performance. Would really recommend to anyone considering a challenge on the bike.
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Sorry to hear about the mechanicals, but great work to recover and stay up there!
Day 7 for me was great! We went down ahead of neutral, looking to stay out of trouble, and waited for the group at the bottom of St Martin. Slotted in after the big lead group cleared and settled in for an hour. My friend who I paced all of day 6 peeled out and I struggled to hang on after a few minutes, dialing back the pace to a more manageable 4wkg. @llomqm came and went, though I hung on for a minute or so, which mentally brought me around and cleared the gap behind. Picked up another friend who cracked, and stayed steady on the pedals in the high 3wkg range. A couple Brazilians arrived with 3-4km to go, so I hopped onto their wheel. One cracked almost instantly while the other fell off when I surged with about 1-1.2km to go. Gave it all I had and picked up a few seconds on the first timing part.
Rolled easy down neutral after a long break and picked up a massive group. Got stopped at the last construction traffic light and decided to stop for a bathroom break, letting the 20-25+ group go, deciding it was better to work a little extra but have a smoother ride down. The three of us worked really well, passing a few dropped riders on the descent, and we managed to pick up almost everyone along the first climb. Legs were feeling great, so kept the pressure on for the last timed climb, going into VO2 range for the last kilometre or more. Quick rest and time check told me I’m 41st on the day, by far the best result all week.
The descent to Nice was great, but I could have done without the traffic. Stopped at the bottom of the castle climb to let the traffic clear and did the best effort I could muster. I didn’t really look at the profile, so had no clue what it would look or how long it would be, so actually under paced it by a bit. Ended up 39th on the day and jumped a bit to 52nd in GC. Very happy with the result.
Then the sadness, emptiness and depression hit. Months of training, prep and mental toll. A week of burying myself, time and time again. A week of emotional and physical roller coaster, flipping between feeling amazing and feeling like quitting. And nothing left at the end, no plans for next race (yet), seeing the village torn down, seeing the week of organization torn apart in minutes. Said goodbyes to the tour group and new friends I made, and now I sit waiting to board my plane ride home.
Overall, I would not hesitate to recommend the experience to anyone! It is difficult to describe the amount of effort required, physical and mental, and the amount of toll the race takes on your body. Continually turning the pedals for hours on end, avoiding dangerous riders, drivers and conditions, eating thousands and thousands of calories each day, dealing with various GI and muscle issues. The list goes on, and though it sounds difficult and incomprehensible, it was worth it.
I opted for a tour organizer, Alps Cycles. Given the amount of effort and organization they did on our behalf, if you can afford it, I would absolutely recommend them to anyone. I do not enjoy or want to do the logistics, it’s almost a whole endurance event in an of itself. It was well worth it to me!
Now time to back off the gas a bit, recover and figure out the next big thing for 2025!
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Was great to be able to ride with both of you over Stages 6 and 7, though it ideally wouldn’t have happened for @JDP_85’s optimal GC positioning. 
Stage 6
Started coming down with a cold the night before, which felt like an event-wide issue given all the coughing that was going on by the end of the event. I was a bit antsy about this one given the extended rolling descent before the Vars, and I ended up letting the initial group I was with up the road because the HR traffic control was inconsistent enough that I didn’t want to blast through blind corners. I ended up taking a wrong turn or two, as well as having a close run in with a car in a roundabout with Sasa.
Vars felt good; steady tempo riding around 4 w/kg all the way to the top. Bonnette also felt good for the first half until it suddenly felt terrible and my watts halved down to low z2 at 9/10 RPE. This went on for a full hour, so I lost 10-15 minutes relative to my conservative power target, more relative to the group I was rolling well with.
Stomach was churning and head was spinning by the top, but was thankfully able to make it down the descent to Auron safely. Was still a bit dizzy on Auron, but paired up with Cassandre to roll up this brief climb at 4 w/kg.
Despite the issues at the Bonnette, 34th on the day and up to 27th on GC with how well the rest of my day had gone.
Stage 7
Slept poorly, but thankfully the cold hasn’t worsened much despite how rough Stage 6 went. I was 2-3 minutes ahead of a cluster of four riders that I had arbitrarily decided I wanted to stay in front of on GC, so that was my motivation for the day.
I’ve ridden the entire event very conservatively so far (equivalent to tempo at sea level) with the idea that you lose far more from blowing up than from pacing too slow. Since it was the last day, I increased the pacing a bit to sweet spot and had a fun time on St. Martin pulling back packs of people throughout the climb.
Paired up with Markus on the timed descent and drags up to Duranus, and we worked well together trading pulls. He’s a bigger rider than me, so my recovery on his wheel was only slightly below threshold. Regardless, last day, last real timed sector, so it was go time. I went solo coming down the mid-climb technical descent; not ideal given how flat it was, but the riders around me were cooked.
The short climb in Nice was a bit too crowded to get it all out, but it was nice to be back at sea level and doing “normal” power numbers to do the climb 10th fastest on the day.
17th on the day and up a spot to finish 26th overall. Solid end to the week, and happy with how everything played out given how the week started. In hindsight, I left a lot in the tank and could have ridden much more aggressively to be in the top 25, but no regrets on coming out of this feeling fairly fresh.
My wife also had a great time once she recovered from stomach flu, hopefully providing a bit of joy to the middle of the peloton. Nothing quite like being denied a stage start to make you appreciative of the privilege of riding in the beautiful Alps.
We’re spending an extra two days baking in hot, humid, and polluted Nice before heading to Amsterdam for a few days. I have a gravel bike project build to put together, but am also looking forward to playing some video games and setting some PRs on local climbs when the winds are favorable in the fall.
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Oh I forgot about this one, that was ridiculous! As well as traffic was controlled most days, there were some obvious gaps!
Also forgot about a day 5 incident, going over that dam we had a car pass the large group quite aggressively around a bend. As the car was making the pass, an oncoming car appeared, both slammed on their brakes but couldn’t stop in time. The passing car swerved, narrowly avoiding us but not the oncoming car. Took off the side mirror, leaving debris everywhere and the oncoming driver in shock. The driver fled the scene, but didn’t get far. As we caught up to them in traffic, one of the riders took the phone out and recorded it, hopefully handing it over to police. Terrifying few moments!
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Well done on finishing strongly! I remember you riding strongly past me on the Bonette as I was cracking and then dropping back a few minutes later. Good to hear you come back strongly after that.
Pacing (along with nutrition and hydration) is the main challenge for Haute Route. It’s really difficult to find out in training how your body will handle 7 straight days of racing. It surely is more enjoyable to move up the ranking in the last couple of days than dropping down. So you probably made the best decision to get the most out of the event.
I was quite happy with my pacing. Started quite agressively, but managed to keep it up apart from my bad day 6. I would have finished al 5 stages (TT in 26th, but time differences were very small) in 22nd or 23rd had I not had a mechanical on the last day.
Are you planning on returning to Haute Route? I am not ready to commit to it for next year, but not ruling out the Pyrenees in 2026 if it returns.
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You’ll probably have found lots of information already in this thread. I wrote down my thoughts about training somewhere else, might be useful to share it here too.
I have been riding seriously (structured training, with weeks of over 6 hours over training) for three years. Started in the lead up to the HR Dolomites in 2022. Overshot it then in terms of increasing training load and reducing weight at the same time. Not took enough rest weeks (weakness of the Join cycling app as well), and way too few carbs in my diet.
This time corrected this mistakes. Keept consistenly trying to increase my hours. Started with 10-12 hour weeks at the end 2023, going to the 15 hour range from April/May. Finished off with some (near) 20 hour weeks in July and a 4 day camp of 22 hours 2 weeks before the event. Usually included 2 or sometimes 3 days of intervals (Vo2max, threshold or sweetspot/tempo) every week. Did most of this on the trainer, also doing long climbs at tempo on Zwift. Endurance rides were mostly outdoors (Netherlands is perfect for this). I made sure I added some very long rides (6+ hours, longest was 12 hours) as my body seems to get a good training boost from doing those. Didnt do a power test but looking at the intervals I could hold my FTP at sea level was about 340-350 watts. Added heat training in July (2 weeks before family holiday) and August (2 weeks after holiday and before HR).
Nutrition was more focussed on carbs. Ate lots of whole foods, fruit and veg off the bike. Rarely had alcohol in the last four months leading up to the event. Weight was 75/76kg (at 190cm) before I left which was only 1 or 2 kg under my 2022 weight. However, felt much stronger/leaner and healthier (not always hungry).
In hindsight I think the training worked well. I was in my best shape ever and hit some really good power numbers (all outdoor PR’s, my Kickr reads 20 watts higher). Did most climbs around 4 w/kg, only the Bonette on my weakest day (6) was significantly lower. Did some of the shorter climbs and the TT at 4.3 w/kg, which I was super happy with.
Talking to some of the guys in the top 10 of GC, I think my main takeway is to keep on going. These guys have a really good base from years and years of training and experience riding in the mountains. My main flaw is not taking enough rest. This is also something to try and experiment with from now on.
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