Tour Type
Tour de France REK
Riding Level
Avid
Location
The French Alps & Paris
Duration
9 days / 8 nights / 6 stages
Length
939 + km
Climb
TBC
The 112th edition of the Tour de France Week 3 is synonymous with the French Alps and Paris. And it is often where the winners are decided. It's the week where the crescendo of speculation, team tactics, heartbreak and elation, and fandom meet to create one of the biggest and unforgettable sporting events in the world.
Riding every kilometre of this week is not for the faint hearted – the race includes three mountain stages that include Mont Ventoux in the provencal summer heat; the Queen stage with Glandon, Madeleine and La Loze totalling over 5,500 metres of elevation; immediately followed by another mountain stage with several increasingly higher cols and totalling over 4,600 metres. The only real flat sections are Stage 16 before Mont Ventoux and Paris Stage 21 – even Stage 17 defined at flat is deceiving.
As you will be riding the day before the actual race, you will be able to ride Stage 21 and then relax and enjoy the Parisian festivities. And of course, the chance to enjoy French gastronomy and local dishes and wine on the journey.
The Grand Tours Project Ride Every Kilometre (REK) provides support and guidance along the full race route the day before the race. This avoids the pre-dawn starts, the race to pass before the roads close, to avoid the crowds in the cities and ascents.
For the professional riders, the Week 2 route is 939 + kilometres long, and much more than 10 thousand metres vertical – for Grand Tours Project REK riders, it’s the same and possibly more.
Are you ready to join us and Ride Every Kilometre of the Tour de France Week 3 Alps and Paris – 6 stages from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux into the French Alps and completing the week in Paris?
We will meet you at Montpellier Airport or Montpellier Saint Roch Train Station and take you to your hotel nearby. After check in, we will help assemble your bike or fit you to your rental bike and if there is time, set out on a welcome ride to stretch the legs and test the bikes. Back at the hotel we will meet for pre-dinner drinks to present the GTP musettes and discuss the logistics for the coming week.
An early breakfast is highly recommended to reach the Stage 16 finish but also to avoid as much of the Provencal heat as possible. The bald Giant of Provence will be easily identifiable in the flat Provencal landscape, and then kicks in near Bedoin. The classic route from here is the focus of Stage 16 and will already be lined with thousands of people. The first 5 km will be easy enough but thereafter it is an average of 8.8% for the next 15 km – ramps of 10% and under the hot midday sun. At the summit, savour your achievement and then descend to Malaucene and transfer to your next hotel.
TDF describes this as a flat route… GTP beg to differ! On leaving Bollene, you will avoid the populated and industrialised Rhone river valley and head out along country lanes into the forested hills of the Drome department. Elevations reach 480 m and then 643 m on Col de Boutiere. Descend towards the Rhone and back into the hills through beautiful dry summer forests and pastures before a flat hot ride into Valence on the banks of the Rhone river.
Today is the Queen Stage – 171 km with over 5,500 m ascent!! Starting early, you will leave the Rhone valley and head towards Allemond, so close to Alpe d’Huez but instead climb the stunning Col du Glandon – 26.6 km | 1,471 m ascent (with a false summit) and an average gradient of 5%. Then a long 21 km descent to La Chambre before straight onto the heartbreaking Col de la Madeleine – just under 18 km and a total ascent of 1,420 m…which means steeper, 8.8% average. Enjoy the 26 km descent because around the 150 km mark the climbing restarts – 26 km, an average of 6% but some steeper sections and a total ascent of 1,588 m. Truly a monster day!
The final mountain stage of the TDF and no break from yesterday. Although only 130 km, the total ascent is more than 4,600 m. Classic climbs over Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine (1,004 m), Col des Saisies (1,650 m), Col du Pré (1,748 m), Cormet de Roselend (1,968 m) and finally the ski resort finish at La Plagne 2000 (2,052 m). The steepest climb is hands down Col du Pré with an average of 7.9% over 12 km. There is respite near the centre but thereafter increasingly steeper ramps reaching 15%. The climb to La Plagne will be tough as the longest (19 km) and highest and last climb of this stage.
Everything is relative, so after yesterday, this is an ‘easy’ day… only about 2,900 m total elevation through the French Jura mountains! The highest point on the route is shortly after the departure, Col de la Croix de la Serra at 1,049 m. Never reaching the 1,000 m again, the route rolls through the Jura to Champagnole, Salles-les-Bains and finally to Pontarlier. Mellow and manageable. Immediately after arrival, the team will transfer you to the closest TGV station for a fast train to Paris.
The 112th Tour de France returns to Paris after finishing in Nice in 2024. You have the day to enjoy a flat ride from Mantes-la-Ville into Paris Champs-Elysées. Perhaps a chance to enjoy a celebratory glass of champagne before the Champs-Elysées circuit? On completion, the team will ensure photos are taken and then back at the hotel you can relax and at dinner recognise your achievement.
Sleep in – you deserve it! Enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The roads in Paris will be restricted or closed to all traffic but if you are feeling it, a short morning can be arranged outside the TDF zones. The GTP team will make arrangements to escort you to the premium TDF Finish Line VIP Zone, one to enjoy time mingling with other fans, officials and former pros – big screens, hor d’oeuvres, and the requisite French wine and beer will be available. Then join everyone to watch and cheer the sprinters across the Stage 21 Arrivée, followed by the teams and winner of the TDF. When the presentations are complete, the team will take you to your final celebratory dinner.
Six stages of the Tour de France, France’s premier sporting event. A week with the classic climbs of the French Alps, including the Provencal windy mountain, Mont Ventoux. And the Stage 21 back in Paris.
The GTP team will support and encourage you to complete your goal to Ride Every Kilometre. If you don’t, no problem, you will have tasted a small part of what the pros experience and you can always return and test yourself again in future Tours.
The team will assist you in checking out and take you to Paris Airport for your flight home or to your next destination.
The “Ride Every Kilometre” tours will give you the opportunity to ride the entire journey – every single kilometre – with your friends. You can choose to ride 3, 6, 9 or even all 21 stages of the race. You and your companions will need to be strong cyclists to achieve this challenge, but you don’t need to be a pro athlete … ours is a journey, not a race, and we’ll leave enough time on each day to enjoy our lunch breaks and photo stops. This tour is designed to ride 24hrs prior to the official stage.
For our “Ride Every Kilometre” tours:
What’s Not Included?
