“My preparation for the 2023 Étape du Tour”

Nicolas S. is a cyclosportive rider in his forties, like so many others. He participated for the second consecutive time in the Étape du Tour, this time between Annemasse and Morzine. He tells us how he prepared for the event, before coming back in a second part to the race itself.

By Nicolas S. – Photos: All rights reserved

Monday, July 11, 2022 – I leave Briançon for the Paris region after having participated the day before in the Étape du Tour which ended at the summit of Alpe d’Huez. I am physically destroyed, mentally exhausted, I went through the wringer of a big mountain sportive on which I arrived already on the downward slope in terms of fitness and, above all, in a state of stress far too great to approach the event calmly. It’s late morning, the sun is beautiful, and I take the time to stop at the summit of the Lautaret to take a couple of photos and, above all, to cast a last glance towards the road that leads to the summit of the Galibier. The spectators who were cheering us on the day before have either disappeared or are in their motorhomes waiting for the passage of the Tour, the real one.

The road home is long, and I have time to dwell on all of this. I don’t think I’ll ever want to inflict this kind of suffering on myself again, at least I don’t see the point. I don’t see the point of spending hours riding in the cold and rain in winter, of spending hours doing indoor trainer sessions in the basement, only to end up having a day of misery. I don’t see the point of getting stressed in the days leading up to it and losing sleep for a bike ride that should generally and normally remain a pleasure.

On the way back, I tell myself that I will still be able to count on a rebound in my fitness after the Étape to improve my PRs on my Massif des Maures routes and, at the same time, why not, on Mont Ventoux. It will be nothing of the sort. I am so wiped out that I will ride all summer without any pleasure, without any strength; I won’t even dare to go and face the Giant of Provence. For the first time in my life, I don’t want to see my bike anymore.

Friday, October 28, 2022 – Time has done its work, and I’ve had time to digest, in my head and in my legs, the 4700m of positive elevation gain that separate Alpe d’Huez from Briançon. Above all, I’ve had time to take stock and accept that not everything was so negative about that day. First, the ranking is far from ridiculous for a first experience on this type of challenge; it suggests a place in SAS 1 if I ever felt like diving back in, which will, of course, be the case. Second, my preparation, although conscientious, was very far from perfect. Started too early, too intense, without serious planning, without rest periods, without measuring any progress or regressions, I did pretty much everything and did everything pretty much haphazardly. I burned out slowly without seeing it, or rather by seeing it but not wanting to face the facts. I see a significant margin for improvement there if I ever felt like diving back in, which will, of course, be the case.

Time has passed, and I must admit that this first Étape du Tour was an experience that left its mark on me because I ultimately loved almost everything about it, and after going through pure and simple disgust for cycling, I only remember the positive aspects of that day which pushed me beyond what I thought I could give. I think I’ve watched all the debriefs, read all the reports, watched all the YouTube videos on the subject; I think in my head I’m ready to dive back in, which will, of course, be the case. The grand presentation mass of the 2023 Tour de France takes place as usual at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, and at the same time, the route of France’s most coveted sportive is announced. With Rémi, we already have all the information from the day before and have already taken the precaution of pre-booking an AirBnb so as not to find ourselves homeless.

So it will be from Annemasse that we will set off to cover 157 km and climb approximately 4100 m of positive elevation gain. The passes are less renowned than the giants of the previous year, but we must not take the Ramaz and especially Joux Plane lightly, as they are two formidable climbs that have made more than one suffer. Reservation slots are open via pre-sale, and of course, there’s no question of us not being there. We pay the registration fees, which many find exorbitant. The freedom of a full course on closed roads is, in my opinion, priceless. We receive our registration confirmations; it’s now official, we’re off for another Tour.

A long, methodical preparation

Sunday, March 19, 2023 – It’s around 7:15 AM. The weather is very grey and rather threatening, as is customary in the Paris region. It’s not bad enough for me to do an indoor trainer session, and above all, Sunday is really dedicated to the week’s long ride. As such, the weather conditions have to be truly dreadful for me to decide not to go outside. I cover the hundred meters that separate me from the house of my riding companion, Fabien. I’ve never told you about Fabien, so a quick flashback to introduce the character is in order.

Around mid-July 2017, Fabien celebrates his 40th birthday with his friends. We expect him to receive a lot of things for his 40 years, and yet Fabien will receive the most unusual gift to celebrate this decade milestone: a bib for the EmbrunMan, which takes place no less than 30 days later from that famous evening, which we can imagine was well-watered. Fabien is not one to back down, especially not from physical effort. Fabien is not like you and me, well, especially not me; if you’re going to do it, you might as well go all out. So, a somewhat truncated preparation begins, aiming to bring him to his best form to face the 3.8 km swim, the 188 km bike ride that passes through the Izoard, and finally the marathon. On August 15, 2017, Fabien starts the EmbrunMan among a thousand or so participants. After 11 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds of effort, he finishes 27th in the event, only about an hour and a half behind the day’s winner, with only about a month of preparation in his legs. I told you, Fabien is not like you and me, well, especially not like me.

So we return to Sunday, March 19, 2023, and I go to pick up Fabien, who has become a friend since his Embrunman, with whom I ride regularly, especially in winter. That morning, the weather is threatening, and I find my colleague rather lightly dressed. No matter, we set off. After 10 km, what was expected happened: the deluge caught us and didn’t let go for the 4 hours and 38 minutes and 133 km of the ride. Fabien, who doesn’t back down from anything, especially not physical effort, almost turned back home very quickly. He grumbled and complained for quite a long time; I had never seen him like that, but he stayed. Fabien doesn’t have a bib for the Étape du Tour, despite himself, but no matter, he rides: you never know.

It’s mid-March, and training has resumed very seriously for many weeks. To give some meaning and content to all these efforts on the bike, I listen to and read pretty much everything serious about training, and I feel that two fundamental trends have been furiously emerging since the end of 2022: the time spent in Z2 should represent 80% of the total training volume, and the quantity of carbohydrates absorbed during training and events must be carefully measured. So I encourage Fabien to ride all winter in Z2, regardless of the terrain, regardless of the wind direction, and even on descents. We realize that maintaining this type of pace, which may seem low beforehand, turns out to be a real physical exercise far from trivial, which will make us build endurance. Regarding carbohydrates, I read here and there that you need to accustom your body and your gut to absorb between 80 and 100 g of carbohydrates per hour in solid, liquid, or both forms to ensure you can last over time. So we start dissecting the labels of all products to find the drinks, bars, gels, and even gummies that will provide us with the most carbohydrates possible while taking up the least space in our pockets. I gradually start to follow a protocol that leads me to drink almost every 10 minutes and eat every 20 minutes to meet the target quantity. I had never really pushed the reflection that far, but how far are we willing to go to achieve our goals?

April 1, 2023 – I am about to make the most important decision of the year from a cycling perspective. I feel that I am repeating the same mistakes as last year in terms of preparation. I am doing everything against common sense and heading straight for a wall called Col de Joux Plane. We are three months away from the event, which doesn’t leave much time but enough to straighten things out a bit. I decide to call on outside help to coach me and guide me best to get through the summer’s passes. I contact a few people and end up calling the only one who knows the region where I ride perfectly and, above all, who knows my professional and personal constraints: Guillaume Judas from www.3bikes.fr. After a phone call to get on the same page, he agrees to coach me and shake up my well-established habits as a Sunday cyclist. A large part of the sessions will take place on Zwift and its maps, well known to everyone since the lockdown; I have never really put my virtual wheels there, preferring the soulless Trainer Road app. From that day on, I blindly trust him and try to follow to the letter all the weekly sessions and programs that are communicated to me every Sunday evening.

May 14, 2023 – My “Sure Guy” Rémi has been talking to me for several days, even weeks, about a ride that takes place near his home and will allow him to accumulate even more elevation gain than usual. Rémi is lucky enough to live in the Bouches du Rhône where the weather is very mild and where every ride takes him to elevation gains of 1500 to 2000 m without even thinking about it. This Sunday, Rémi is taking on the long course of the Six Saintes – Massif de la Sainte Baume, starting from his home, which will allow him to cover 200 km and a little over 3500 m of elevation gain for a riding time of about 7h30. In other words, the perfect preparation. From my Chevreuse valley, I am jealous of this kind of route that I cannot tackle or include in my program. As soon as his ride is uploaded to Strava, I rush to analyze his climbing times and watts on each climb. He was strong and super consistent. He will be ready for July 9th, that’s for sure, but I had no doubt.

May 21, 2023 – The weather is dry and mild in the Vosges. Arnaud has been in the area for a few days, tackling passes, also in preparation for the Étape du Tour. This will be his first participation. This Sunday, he sets off from Plancher-les-Mines and first heads for the Ballon de Servance, passing through the Col de Croix. He then descends towards La Planche des Belles Filles. That day, Arnaud will develop 300 W for 23’30”, which is almost 5 W/kg for him. Everyone prepares seriously and needs benchmarks to face an event as brutal as an Étape du Tour. The day Arnaud achieves this performance, which few cyclists are capable of, I don’t know him yet. Our paths will cross in a few days. Meanwhile, Fabien manages, through his contacts and acquaintances, to register for the Étape du Tour as well, which is rather miraculous.

June 4, 2023 – My program is quite simple that morning. I have to do 4 hours easy in the Valley and put everything I have into the last two climbs of the route. I leave with Xavier (the one who had offered Fabien the EmbrunMan bib) who will accompany me to test a painful knee; the pace I plan to set during the ride suits him very well. It has been very mild for a few weeks even here, my legs are turning quite well, and the last climbs of the route arrive quite quickly. I warn Xavier of my upcoming efforts. “No problem Nico, do what you have to do, we’ll meet at the top“. I decided to focus my efforts on the Côtes de Saint Rémy les Chevreuse and Châteaufort, long but not too long, steep but just enough, it should go well. At the foot of Saint Rémy, I start seriously and aim to maintain the effort until the summit. This is typically the kind of effort I never imposed on myself and which really, really loosens up the engine. This climb, at the pace I’m able to tackle it, is about 4 minutes of effort, which is more than enough, believe me. I’m a little bothered by the traffic but I manage to get back on track without too much difficulty, I try not to look at the watts but I feel that the effort is constant and above all doesn’t weaken too much, or even at all. During the climb, I spot two guys dressed, one in Rapha, the other in MAAP; this kind of thing, even in full effort, stands out. Of course, I overtake them and try to give them a little “hello” despite my shortness of breath. Xavier joins me, asks me how this first test went. No time to sleep, it’s starting to smell like the stable but we still have a few km left. Châteaufort, the last climb of Sunday rides for a very large number of cyclists in the Yvelines, stands before us. Again, I start at the bottom, I’m a little bothered by the traffic, I overtake the two well-dressed guys, I reach the summit without collapsing too much and I wait for Xavier who asks me how my climb went. I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. We return to Versailles. Xavier decides to go straight home, he has asked enough of his knee which has left him rather alone. I want to prolong the pleasure and decide to go home via the Côte de l’Homme mort. I attack the foot of the climb at tempo and am caught by one of the two well-dressed guys who sticks right next to me “Hello“, “Hello“, then quickly passes me. The pace accelerates seriously then really seriously. I look at the watts and I see that I am at 350/360w in the wheel just to follow. At this pace, my life expectancy is far from eternal but my guy with his MAAP jersey seems perfectly at ease. He drops me without even realizing it, decency obliges me not to use the excuse of the two climbs done at PMA a little earlier in the ride. As soon as I get home, as soon as the ride is uploaded to Strava, I start looking for who this guy could be who dropped me so easily when I felt pretty good. For the first time, I had ridden with Arnaud, the man with 5w/kg on La Planche des Belles Filles. Arnaud was riding that day with Stan, his brother.

The Volcanique as a springboard

June 17, 2023 – We leave Saint Victor with Fabien. It’s very early and the weather is beautiful in Ardèche. One evening in November 2022, while sharing a few drinks and having painstakingly obtained the agreement of our respective wives, we decided to go and ride the Volcanique, the 180 km route with 3000 m of elevation gain of the Ardéchoise. Personally, I’m super happy to go there because it’s also a must-do for Rémi who performs well there every year. We managed to get priority bibs which allow us to start in the first positions. Rémi briefed me on all the important points and passages not to miss, Fabien made me repeat a dozen times the length of the climbs and their average percentage. True to my habit, I’ve been slowly but surely building up pressure since the night before, almost as if I was going to play my life on this event. Fabien, being a good competitor, is as relaxed as possible. He will weave his way into the starting pen to the front row, I will stay a little further back to wait for Rémi who will join us later. The start is launched and as expected it goes full throttle on the first descent. I make the necessary efforts to rejoin the first group but I find the pace too high. Too cautious, too prudent, not confident enough, I ease off at the Col du Buisson to wait for a group coming from behind. This one suits me perfectly and will take me quite far at a pace I wouldn’t even have dared to dream of, everything goes well or almost. Since the first pedal strokes, a creaking sound becomes more and more present with each pedal stroke and the insistent glances of the guys passing me make me feel that such a noise is not allowed on a bike like mine. I try to detach myself from it. We arrive at a long climb and a phrase exchanged with a guy from the group will have rather unexpected repercussions on my progress. We chat quietly, I start to gently feel the efforts of the first hours in the saddle and he tells me “it’s fine now, but in two km it will become difficult and that’s where the selection is made“. The two km in question were enough to make me doubt my ability to follow the group and at the same time I saw my watts drop by almost 30 units in less time than it takes to say it. The group left and I was stuck with my creaking bike. Many guys passed me, without me being able to follow their wheels. I had been warned that it was better not to find yourself alone in the wind on the Mont Gerbier de Jonc plateau, but I, out of a sense of challenge, preferred to live this experience solo. I was aiming for a Top 50 and I find myself dropped in the middle of nowhere, completely losing it because of my legs and a noise on my bike. All ideas pass through my head and the most serious of them is to reach the finish line as best I can and announce to my friends that I am giving up on the Étape du Tour. I’m cracking like hell after 1500 m of D+ on 6/7% climbs, so there’s no way I’m going to tackle Joux Plane. I don’t care about my race anymore, so I stop for fifteen minutes at the Mavic stand to have everything that screws on my spade greased and tightened. I set off again as best I can, with no idea of my position in the race at that moment, but I feel that the rest of the day will be long, I’m barely halfway. I set off again and as they say in the jargon “I get my second wind“. There are three more climbs to go and I find a semblance of legs in Clavière, then I chain Rochepaule then Lalouvesc, always at a steady pace. It’s not very high but I’ve found some bite, I’m overtaking people and I see guys hanging on my wheel. So why not. I come across François and Emmanuel whom I follow on Strava, we exchange a few words, each climbs at his own pace and then comes the last descent. The kind where you have to push the pedals to move forward. I go to the front, I push, I don’t ask anyone for anything, I’ll go to the line like that. Once I arrive, several guys thank me for the work done, my morale has returned.

Rémi is waiting for me behind the line; he beat his best time by 10 minutes, yet he didn’t improve his ranking. Fabien, meanwhile, is shirtless on the lawn where the pasta party is taking place; he finished 10th. I told you, Fabien is not like you and me, well, especially not like me. We debrief with Rémi; he makes me understand that I was foolish to stop at Mavic, and he’s right. He’s right because I finished 64th in the race, and the fifteen-minute stop cost me a top 50 finish. I was within my objective without realizing it. The ideas and thoughts, however sincere, of not going to the Étape are now far away. The Ardéchoise both put me in a hole and put me on track in anticipation of early July. A final exchange with Rémi will completely free me for the Étape; during the debrief, he will tell me most sincerely, “Nico, stop comparing yourself all the time.” When you only ride with guys who all have 30 to 50 watts more than you, you can only be below them. I don’t think he realizes the impact those few words had. We return to Paris. Fabien tells me with his characteristic frankness, “Nico, do you think I can ask for a priority bib for the Étape?” I burst out laughing; I recommend he send an email immediately to his contact to make his request given his place at the Ardéchoise.

July 2, 2023. I have to do 5 hours of endurance, and I suggested to Arnaud and Stan that we ride together to get to know each other better. Arnaud is back from the Pyrenees where he did rides with over 4100 m of elevation gain, maintaining rather impressive watts in the last passes, considering his weight. During the ride, he tells me about some of his reference performances on dry climbs, and it often hovers around 300w for about 45 minutes. I tell him without hesitation that with such performances, he can and should aim for a top 100. The more we talk, the more I feel that he doubts himself, that he asks himself many questions about the starting pace, about the watts to put in the passes, about the behavior to follow or not during the race. He is strong, very strong, and he doubts. The Étape du Tour never leaves anyone indifferent. I don’t have much perspective on the event and sportives in general, nor do I have full legitimacy to tell him what he should or shouldn’t do. I decide to integrate him into our small group that will meet in Annemasse in about a week. Rémi and Fabien will find the words, I’m sure, to free him a little from all these questions.

July 7 – It’s around 12:00 PM. Rémi, Fabien, and Arnaud, who don’t know each other, are going to meet for the first time and ride together. We planned to go and recon the first two passes of the Étape. Unexpectedly, this 70 km ride will disturb Fabien, who is not used to making “so much” effort two days before a competition. It breaks his habits, and I can tell he’s doing the ride against his will. But that’s how he is; he knows how to get over this kind of thing. The first kilometers are much more demanding than we had imagined, so much so that I think I’ve finished the Col de Saxel when we haven’t even started it yet. The descent towards the Col de Cou is magnificent, and the climb that follows is just as much. This pass is quite representative of what awaits us; we climb it very calmly, but I will take advantage of this reconnaissance to take valuable benchmarks for Sunday. Everyone is impressed by Arnaud’s pedal stroke, and everyone offers their valuable advice to put him in a good frame of mind for Sunday.

TO BE CONTINUED: My Étape du Tour 2023

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