I have done it twice and managed to get within the gold time.
Col du Glandon - Keep it conservative: 70–80% FTP. Adrenaline + fresh legs = biggest pacing mistake here.
Col du Télégraphe + Col du Galibier (middle block) Settle into 75–85% FTP.Galibier is loooong.
Alpe d’Huez ( Empty the tank if you still have one. Strong day → 85–90% FTP No so strong → 75–85% FTP steady
I did it one year and it got up to 39 degrees in the valley. You would need to adjust expectations on power if that happens. The other top tip I would give you is last time I did it the descent off the Glandon was neutralised so get past the feed station at top which was rammed as quick as possible and stop at bottom just before you go over the timing mat and have a feed etc.
90% with altitude is pretty ambitious … This is 3-4 hours of sweet spot to threshold (on altitude you might loose 10%, so 290 would be like threshold.
Aim lower (80%) specially for the first half
I’ve done the Marmotte 8times. It has no secrets for me.
Few important things I would recommend for first timers:
Pace the Glandon smart. You are fresh, strong, focused. A lot (and I mean a lot) of riders go way too hard on this climb. This climb will make or ruin your day.
Valley towards Telegraphe. Don’t go crazy, eat, drink, recover. It’s easy to go in a faster group, wasting way too much power for just one or two minutes faster. You want win or loose the race here.
Telegraphe/Galibier is just one long climb. The downhill of Telegraphe is short so in no time you are on the Galibier. And there it starts, your journey. The first half of this climb is a mental battle. Fatigue is starting to come, and you have very long stretched out roads and it seems not that steep. But the game begins halfway when you turn right at Plan Lachat. There the Marmotte starts. Every energy wasted before you will feel double from here on. If you are strong (and your numbers look pretty good). Start here by pushing more. If you can’t or feel already fatigued, you went out too hard, and you won’t be able the adjust this for the rest of the day. This part of the climb is steep enough to make up lots of time if you are strong.
Find a group after the first steep downhill of Galibier. No need to go solo or crazy untill Bourg d’oisans. Find some mates and take some turns.
Alpe = suffering. Almost every year it was hot on this climb. So be prepared for this. Never stop. Once you stop, you lost the mental battle. Always keep going, even if it seems too slow. And if you paces well, and you feel strong. You will fly and pass A LOT of people. Every minute you won on the first to climbs by riding too hard, you will loose here by 10times as much.
Having just got back I wanted to give an update on how it went!
Power wise:
Happy with pacing overall. With a caveat.
Sat on the Glandon and Telegraph at almost the same power numbers. (270 - 82% of FTP)
Felt good most of the way up the Galibier, intentionally running lower power (started at 250) as I knew it was a long one, especially after the Telegraph
As I got towards the higher altitudes power dropped, heart rate stayed the same. I expected this and carried on. I was still catching and passing people all the way up to the top - so figured everyone was suffering about the same! Average power st the top of the Galibier had dropped to 240, which I was happy with.
The temperature is what killed my power on Alp d’huez and I haemorrhaged time. Average was around to 200W mark with stints where I could barely pedal. Even small efforts caused a heart rate spike.
The heat
Everyone had to deal with it, so this isn’t a “woe is me”!
I’ve never coped well in the heat and was underprepared for it. It was 27C going up the top of the Galibier and I was already feeling it. It was 38 at the bottom of Alp d’huez and I really didn’t cope.
In comparison, the UK had just come off the back of 3 weeks at abnormally low temperatures (18C ish tops), followed by one week in a heatwave (35C).
In that week I hadn’t done much riding and had (largely) been in an air conditioned office!
I’d done a couple of “hot baths”, but on reading some coaching guides had started too late and not done them often enough or for long enough. We’d been in france for 3 days prior to the event, but that wasn’t enough to help acclimatise.
In the end I had to stop 4 times to soak myself in water and try to keep my heart rate under control. Once I got beyond the worst of the heat, managed to tap away at a low intensity and got up there (albeit 30 mins slower than two days prior!).
The end result:
Overall, I’m still happy with my time. 7:06 is my “official” time and put me in the top 7% of finishers.
I checked my time vs a club mate: we were essentially identical to the bottom of Alp d’huez. He stated that he didn’t suffer too badly from the heat and didn’t need to stop. In the end I finished 18mins down on him.
I’m considering it again for next year as I LOVE the climbing in the high mountains.
Things I’ll do differently next time:
Better heat acclimation in the build up. I’m going to have to figure out a routine to follow about 2-3 weeks before the event. In all likelihood I may head down to France earlier to get more riding in at the kind of temperatures we might expect.
More fuel- I don’t know if this contributed directly or not, but 'd done all my training rides at 60g/hr, which works well in general. For a ride this long I will aim to increase further to 90g/hr - more fuel on an event like this won’t be a bad thing.
On the day: pacing strategy seemed good. No complaints there. I may aim to be slightly lower as a means to conserve energy.
After the main Galibier descent (rolling main road): Take an extra hit of the gel. I was a bit too rigid about timing my feeds so only took it about 3 mins out from the base of the climb.
At the bottom of alp d’huez: stop at the feed station and soak myself in cold water. Fill the bidons with cold water and then keep going. The 2mins lost here will be more than made up for if I can keep my power up and keep moving.
Pacing on alp d’huez: In hindsight I should have slowly ramped up to target power, rather than trying to hold it from the start. That way when I was suffering from the heat I could have knocked the effort down without it falling off a cliff.
Gearing: I ran a subcompact (36t) with 34t cassette. It was fine until I blew up on AdH. I’ll definitely use a compact (34t) next time.
Nice one The Alp Du Huez is brutal in the heat. That’s the last time I remember seriously cramping up. I had only been road biking 5 years at the point (although high mileage it was unstructured, I did 16,000miles the year I did the Marmotte in 2013). I got half way up the Alp and folk were walking up as fast as me cycling. So I thought it’d be OK if I stopped and got off for a minute or two. Big mistake I cramped big time. I cant remember how long it was before I eventually forced myself to get back on (I think I had to walk a corner first) and get things turning to relieve it and let me finish.
The Alp Du Huez is brutal in the heat. That’s the last time I remember seriously cramping up. I had only been road biking 5 years at the point (although high mileage it was unstructured, I did 16,000miles the year I did the Marmotte in 2013). I got half way up the Alp and folk were walking up as fast as me cycling. So I thought it’d be OK if I stopped and got off for a minute or two. Big mistake I cramped big time. I cant remember how long it was before I eventually forced myself to get back on (I think I had to walk a corner first) and get things turning to relieve it and let me finish.