La Marmotte Cyclosportive

The doyenne of cyclosportives, La Marmotte has become a legend to match L’Etape du Tour. Covering the long climb from the Romanche valley over the Col du Glandon, the route then descends to the Maurienne valley before the Cols du Télégraph and the fearsome Galibier. As if this were not enough, after the relentless descent from the Col du Lauteret to Bourg D’Oisans, riders can look forward to the legendary 21 hairpins of L’Alpe d’Huez.

French Cycling Holidays is offering 3-night packages from Thursday 5th to Sunday 8th July. We collect you from Lyon airport and Grenoble airport and station.*
(NOT Geneva – this is a longer journey and traffic in Geneva can add a further hour). We stay at hotels in l'Alpe d'Huez, ideally placed for the finish of the event, 150m from the finish line. Lodging is on a half-board basis (dinner bed and breakfast), with plenty of pasta to load up for the ride.

On Friday, as well as signing on for the event, there will be opportunity to go out for a warm up ride – we’ll be around to give you a ride up the Alpe should you want to save your legs for the Marmotte! On Saturday 7th we roll down the Alpe to the start in Bourg d'Oisans – our minibus will be there for you to drop off your warm clothes. The ride starts at 7:00am - the FCH minibus will follow to assist with mechanicals etc and to offer a back-up to riders in trouble. We will have a second vehicle in Valloire, halfway round the route, where you can top up water and food supplies if you want to avoid the crowds at the official feed station.

We will be transferring for return flights and trains during Sunday 8th. We can arrange for riders who have later flights that day to take part in the Grimpe de L’Alpe time trial from Bourg d'Oisans to l'Alpe d'Huez – every rider receives a personal timing ticket. Please contact us for details.

Places are strictly limited – we advise early booking to guarantee your places on this legendary event.

* Please contact us before booking flights to check which flights our transfers are servicing.

We will, as usual, be organising a bike transport service from our base in Watford for those flying who are wary about leaving their bikes to the tender mercies of the baggage handlers, and more importantly to ensure that your bike makes it to the start at all!

To book your place please return the Marmotte booking form.

Marmotte package (3 nights)

Packages are priced on the level of accomodation as follows:

Package A – 3* Hotel Pic Blanc Including event entry	£675
Package B – 3* Hotel Pic Blanc No entry	£575
Package C – 2* Residence MMV SOLD OUT Including event entry	£595
Package D – 2* Residence MMV SOLD OUT No entry	£495