Description
The hard one. Eight riders. Eight months. One finish line, high above the Beaufortain, at Les Saisies
L’Étape du Tour de France 2027 isn’t a first big challenge. It’s the one you build a whole winter around. On Sunday 11 July 2027, from Cluses to Les Saisies, you ride a full Tour de France mountain stage on closed roads. 154 kilometres. 4,850 metres of climbing. Five major climbs.
It gives you no warm-up. The Col de la Colombière (15.9 km at 7%) starts almost as soon as the day does. Then come the Aravis, the Arly valley and the Beaufortain. After the Col du Pré, by Lake Roselend, with everything already in your legs, you face the Bisanne (12.4 km at 8.3%) and a finish line high up at Les Saisies.
You don’t turn up to this one and hope. You prepare for it. And preparing alone, from a long way off, across a whole winter, is where most riders come unstuck. Not from lack of fitness. From not knowing what the day actually asks of them until they’re in the middle of it.
This cohort fixes that.
Eight riders, all preparing for the Étape du Tour 2027 together, from November through to the event in July. Not a membership. Not a big group chat. A small, committed group, with me working alongside you the whole way.
I lived in the Alps for twelve years, at the foot of Alpe d’Huez, and I named my channel after its 21 bends. I’ve been supporting on French mountain roads for over fifteen years, and I’ve supported more than 1,000 riders. I know what an Alpine stage does to people, and what it takes to arrive at the start line ready for it.
What you get:
- A monthly 1 hour group video call. With 8 of us it’s a proper working session, not a webinar. Your questions, every time.
- A small, high-signal WhatsApp group. Peer support and accountability right through the winter.
- Full route GPX and map packs. All four climbs and the descents.
- Climb-by-climb deep sessions as the event gets closer, from someone who has ridden them since 2008.
- Pacing and fuelling for a 174km, 5,000m day in the heat, built around the medal time you’re chasing.
- The things that catch people out: the Glandon descent, altitude on the Galibier, the cut-offs, and the mental side, which matters more here than on any sportive you’ve done.
What this isn’t:
I’m not a coach. I won’t write you a training plan or talk about your FTP. Plenty of people do that well. What I give you is what they can’t: the road, the day, and how to arrive ready instead of hoping.
The founding offer:
The first cohort is 8 places. Founding members pay €349 for the full eight-month season through to the event. Expires 1st December. Standard price is €449. Founding members keep the founding rate on future cohorts.
Eight places. That’s not a marketing number, it’s the real limit. Over eight months, with everyone getting proper time, a group this size is the only way it works.
Riding it with me?
If you book a supported cycling trip with me, your place in this cohort is included free. And if you join the cohort first, your fee comes off the price of a supported cycling trip when you book one. Either way, the people who want to actually ride these climbs with me get looked after. See the terms below.
Join the founding cohort. 8 places. Founding rate closes when it’s full.
Trip offer terms
- Book a supported holiday and your cohort place is included free. Or join the cohort and have your fee credited against a holiday you book later.
- The holiday must be taken in the same or the following season, between April and September.
- One offer per person.
- Non-transferable.
