The Wheeler Women at L’Etape du Tour
For those taking on the biggest sportives in Europe, July brings one of the best each year. There are certainly tougher rides out there if you go by distance or climbing, but L’Etape du Tour is always special given it traces the same route as the pros at the Tour de France. And it’s certainly never an easy ride, taking in 3-4 tough cols in the height of summer in the Alps. It’s generally a male dominated event (94% of all entrants), so it was greet to see three incredible Wheeler women getting out to France to represent at the 2024 edition.
Jo Reynolds
On Saturday, three Wheeler Women (Liane Jackson, Michele Moore-Duhen and my good self) lined up to start the legendary L’Étape du Tour. This year’s course was a meagre 138km, but with over 4,600 metres of climbing packed in and only 6 kms of road to call ‘flat’, the Queen’s Stage of this year’s Tour de France is not for the faint hearted. Only 6% of the field were women this year, by far the lowest percentage participation of any event I’ve ridden.
The event village was really well-organised and huge, compared to other sportives. Lots of free merch, some quality concession stalls for brands like Hunt, Gobik and Santini. And Didi the devil was on-hand each day for selfies.
The morning itself was a beautiful, clear, sunny one. Humid but manageable. The start pen system was very well organised with officials being militant about making sure people didn’t try and jump pens. Thanks to some outrageous lying on my registration form, I bagged a spot in pen 4 (out of 15) which had me in a pen full of people who clearly eat a lot less fat than I do. No bar bags of any kind, one water bottle, pocket full of gels, lean AF. In comparison my bike looked like it was set up for an arctic expedition! But this early start got me away within an hour of the elite pen and well in advance of the broom wagon, which was ruthless in taking people off the course. Liane started in pen 8 and had caught up to me midway up the 2nd climb. Michele was in pen 13 and was thus fighting to stay ahead of the cut off times. They cruelly enforced the cut off but two mins before Michele got to it and she was put on a bus with some very handsome French chaps who were too busy being rizzy to care about pointless things like cut offs. She had a 5 hour guided tour of Les Alps Maritimes with Guillaume, who was excellent company.
On paper the climbs seemed simple and split out over separate days, they would’ve been a good day out. Add them all together and the relentless feeling of going up up up was insane. The average gradient over the 64kms of climbing was 7.4% – just enough bite to hurt. And hurt it did.
But what goes up must come down and the descents were well worth the pain of what went before them. One of the most popular comments I’d had from folks when they knew I was doing this event was to ‘watch out for the nutters on the descents’. The nutters must’ve chickened out of this event because the road craft and bike handling of the people who rode around me were exceptional. Maybe this talks to the pro level of participants because I felt super safe going downhill and, compared to sights I’ve witnessed on the downhills in other events, there were very few accidents. One dude mistimed a bend and went over a ravine (he’s fine) and another chap ended up in the rocks (he’s also fine). But given the technical nature of the descents, the accident count was super low.
The bigger medical emergencies were experienced by those going up the hill. By the third climb, the music from my headphones (excellent playlist, follow me on Spotify and I’ll share) was being drowned out by the wail of sirens. People were seriously struggling. Ambulances on every other corner. It was brutal. The queue to get onto the evacuation bus at the bottom of the third and fourth climb was massive. I wanted to join the queue. So badly. But I didn’t! And neither did Liane.
By the final climb, the throng of people had thinned out considerably. We all knew we had 15.5kms to go. At 7.7%. It was going to take the bare bones of 2hrs. And the quickest way home was now finishing. It’s hard to describe where you go in your head when faced with such a stark choice. Some people just lay in the road and waited for the bus. Some people unclipped and walked up. But the Wheeler Women dug deep (soooo deep) and tapped it out. Those final few kms will stay with me for the rest of my life. The promises I made to myself. The bargaining. “Get to this next corner and you can have a Cannondale Lab71 for Christmas”. Plagued by heat exhaustion all day, vomiting had robbed me of the chance to do it how I’d hoped to do it. But I wasn’t going to not finish.
And finish we did. Medals, bonks, a 3km walk uphill to the bus, a 3hr coach ride back to Nice with a bag of crisps. And in bed by 3am.
What a day! There was so much Wheeler love on the road. If anyone spoke to me it was always because I was a Wheeler and they loved the club, knew someone or loved the kit. One chap said “I’ve done every sportive going and I always meet someone from Kingston on the road. And they are always nice” Another chap said “Do you know a guy called Neil Grunshaw? He should be here doing this!” Wherever we go, whatever we do, Wheelers represent.
So 6 months of training, countless reps of Broomfield Hill, loooong days out in the Surrey Hills and the wild mountains of Wales. Giving up alcohol. Overhauling the nutrition. But nothing can prepare you or train you for the mental muscles you need to stare up mountains that are breathtakingly high, and believe you can get up them.
But get up them we did. Proud to be a Wheeler Woman.
Liane Jackson
There were a number of motivators for signing up for this year’s Etape du Tour, but the two major ones were, firstly, that I was coming back from health issues and injury and wanted a tangible goal (go big or go home, right?); and, secondly, the location. I love riding in Nice and the alpes-maritimes, so what better excuse than to sign up (and give myself another excuse to train there earlier in the year). I’d ridden a previous Etape in 2019, when I’d qualified with a championship place (top 5% at another event), so I also knew what I was in for…
I knuckled down to training properly from about March, including a training camp in Spain in April and then building volume and elevation into most rides throughout May-June. I also practised my fueling strategy, which really paid off on the day; and, in May, reconned 2/3 of the Etape route just to get an idea of what I was in for.
The event itself felt a lot more relaxed than 2019, when I’d been in a front fast pen. Whilst people do race the Etape, this time, I was in the 8th pen and the vibe was much more like a large sportive than a race. The route was planned brilliantly, starting with a false flat out of the city before Col du Nice, which has a couple of switchbacks and a little kick, before a fast short descent into l’Escarene. After that, it’s mostly up up up. I was happy to get a PB up Braus; my legs felt good and I enjoyed getting into my rhythm. At the top there was a water/banana station and then we descended to Sospel, before starting the legendary Col du Turini. I’ve climbed Turini multiple ways, and this way is by far the least pretty in my opinion, but it had plenty of shade, which was a bonus. I bumped into Jo at the next feed station, had a hug and a selfie (it is always the best seeing your mates are doing ok on a big day), then got on my way. 10km more climbing at an average of >7% took us to the top, before a fast descent to Vesubie. Halfway down, I had a blowout, which was a pain as I’d been making great time until then, so after that I decided to just ‘enjoy’ the day. On the same descent, I could see a bunch of cyclists had stopped further back up the road. I found out later that someone had gone off over into the ravine. This was my worst fear as I knew the descent and it is narrow and technical. Fortunately I heard later the chap involved was a bit broken but ok…
After Turini, two climbs and 2500m climbing remained: Colmaine and Couillole. Colmaine was short but had a bit of a sting at the start, with a lot of 11% before settling off. I’m not a fast descender, but the descent from Colmaine was spectacular. The road has long straights and large, winding corners, allowing you to carry speed and just enjoy. And, you’re surrounded by the most amazing red rock cliffs. I couldn’t quite believe I still had 1500m left to climb over 15km, but then it would be over. I had time on my side, so found a coffee shop and popped in for a quick espresso and coke before cracking on. Wise choice. I loved the last climb and found I was overtaking a lot of tired folks on my way up. The whole way up, I kept thinking what a cracking stage Stage 20 of the Tour was going to be, especially this last climb, which is a steady 7-8% for 15km. We rode up past a waterfall and a mediaeval village; and before I knew it the flamme rouge was in sight. I had such a nice day out and felt super happy and quite emotional crossing the line. A year ago, I couldn’t bend my knee due to ITB syndrome, and here I was climbing mountains again feeling strong. A short 6km descent took me to pasta and a long-overdue beer. I was then super delighted to see Jo and Michele, who had had very different days!
Would I recommend the Etape as a fun event to ride or race? Yes, but it’s not to be underestimated. This one was short at 135km, but packed in 4600m over (I’m told) 90km of climbing, with a mountain finish. The event is really well organised and is always in an amazing location, and it’s generally good value for money to enter. The supporters on the road make it a great day out. The best bit? Meeting the other KWCC women and having the camaraderie of training as a team and supporting each other to the end. It was a great adventure.
Michele Moore Duhen
Let me start by saying that I am so proud to have joined Liane and Jo on this epic adventure. Apart from Ride100 in 2022, Etape du Tour was my first sportive, so I’m grateful to have had two incredibly strong cyclists to learn from. As the only Wheeler Woman who DNF’d the Etape, I thought my learnings could be helpful to others who take on this challenge in the future.
Understand the rules of the sportive:
I knew that there was a 10 hour cutoff for l’etape, but what I didn’t realise is that the 10h time was for the last starters or that there were cut off points on the course (the first after Col du Turini). Because I put a realistic finish time when I registered, I started near the back of the sportive (pen 13 of 15), which meant that I needed to spend less time at the break stations and more time on the bike to make the cutoff. Hint: I missed the cutoff by minutes, which ended my ride at the halfway point.
My recommendation: put in a more aggressive time when you register to start further ahead and build in more time. Jo started in pen 4 and Liane in pen 8. If I had started near them, I would have made the cut off times.
Train for the course:
You don’t know what you don’t know, right? When I saw that the Etape had 4600m of elevation over 138km, it didn’t sound daunting. I trained hard and spent a lot of time in the saddle, but there are no hills around London that could have prepared me for the Alps. If you can get out of London and into some mountains, do it! I wasn’t able to escape the UK for any training, but if I’d been able to even do one training ride in Spain or France, I’d have better understood what was coming and could have adapted my training accordingly. Which leads me to the next:
Work with a coach:
If you can afford it, get a specialised coach. I had been working with my long-time running coach who was confident about training me for l’etape, but I now see I could have benefitted from having a cycling coach with experience doing these types of rides. And if you can’t afford a coach? Most of these sportives offer training plans for free, so you have options.
Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! It was a dream training for this race and heading to Nice with Jo and Liane. I am so proud that I got through 2 of the 4 cols and even prouder that I’ve already promised myself that I will head back to tackle l’etape in 2026.
A final note:
Only 6% of registered cyclists were women at this year’s L’Etape. That means that equates to 900 women out of the 15,000 registered cyclists. I would strongly encourage every woman in the Wheelers to sign up for something like this. Even if you DNF, I can promise that you will feel proud of yourself for signing up to such a challenge. And we certainly need more women representation.
