Marmotte pacing

1

I’m doing the marmotte in June, 177km with 5000m climbing.

I’m experienced as a cyclist but have never ridden in the Alps. Wondering if anyone had any comments on pacing strategy:

FTP is 323. Weight 70kg.

I’m aiming to do 90% threshold on the climbs. Hard, but not all out. (290).

Descending will be essentially recovery time. Whilst I’ll not be hanging about i have zero intention of pushing my limits.

In the valleys I’m thinking 220-230. High z2, but not the upper end.

Fuelling: need to start “training” my gut to handle this, but aiming for 100g carbs per hour. I run 50 now with no issue.

Any suggestions welcome!

2

What’s the elevation like? Have you considered if that may impact your planned power?

3

I have done it twice and managed to get within the gold time.

  1. Col du Glandon - Keep it conservative: 70–80% FTP. Adrenaline + fresh legs = biggest pacing mistake here.
  2. Col du Télégraphe + Col du Galibier (middle block) Settle into 75–85% FTP.Galibier is loooong.
  3. 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.

Best of luck it’s a a great Grandfondo.

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4

I expect it’ll make a difference. But I have no idea to what degree.

The alps start around 1300m above sea level and top out in the 2700m range.

5

Thanks - this is really handy.

If it’s 40 degrees in the valley then I’ll be struggling, regardless of pacing. Hot weather is my major achilles heel!

6

Its a long time since I did it (2013) but I used that as motivation to climb and get to the cooler mountain air sooner.

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7

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

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8

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.
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9

This is all great info.

I’m going the etape du tour this year which is basically the same route.

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