12-minute read
Road cycling tours with Tour de France climbs
There’s always huge excitement within Team Marmot when the Tour de France route is announced. This year was no different. We were especially thrilled to see that the organisers had been inspired by our Northern French Alps road cycling tour! In fact, stage 19 is pretty much a replica of our day five route.
To boot, we’ve got a Northern French Alps trip running when the pro peloton passes through on 24 – 25 July. This means that if you’re on that tour, you’ll have the unique opportunity to watch the peloton from the roadside. This will be on either the Cormet de Roselend climb or at the stage ending in La Plagne. The dates for this tour are:
20 – 27 July 2025
Cycle Tour de France stage endings
As if watching the Tour de France in the flesh wasn’t enough, this experience is part of an INCREDIBLE cycling holiday. With six days of riding some of the most spectacular Alpine roads, you’ll adore the cycling on this trip. Classic Tour de France climbs to be conquered this week are plentiful. Col de Joux Plane (1691m), Col de la Ramaz (1619m), Col des Saisies (1615m), Col du Pré (1703m), Cormet de Roselend (1968m), Col de la Loze (2304m) … PLUS MANY MORE!
Road cycling tours with THE BEST cycling guides!
As with all our holidays, you’ll be accompanied by two knowledgeable guides who are skilled at knowing just when you need that extra bit of moral (or mechanical) support. They’ll know the route like the back of their hand, and in our well-kitted vans, they’ll have everything but the kitchen sink to support you on the road. Not only that but their sparkling personalities and rizz (!) mean they’re great fun to hang out with when you’re off the bike!
Book your Alpine road cycling tours NOW!
As we only launched this itinerary in 2024, this departure is sure to fill up quickly. We always have a flurry of enquiries over the Christmas holidays so if you’re keen, hit the ENQUIRE NOW button from the webpage. One of our team will help with your enquiry and can pencil you in. Then you can look into your travel options and take it from there.
MORE Tour de France cycling experiences!
The Tour doesn’t only highlight some of our favourite cycling in the Northern French Alps – oh no!
Stage 10 will see the pros fighting over the yellow jersey in the magnificent Massif Central region. They’ll tick off the Croix St Robert (1451m) which we include on day two of our Raid du Massif Central.
This challenging Raid is really rather special and showcases some spectacular cycling across a vast and varied region. Forested climbs, open moorland with big skies, deep, cavernous gorges, and volcanic peaks – it’s pretty much got it all. If you’re looking for the next incredible place to cycle, you really should check out this itinerary. The dates in question are:
14 – 21 September 2025
HOWEVER, we have only four places left on this tour! Drop us a line toute de suite if you’re keen, to avoid disappointment.
Road cycling tours in the French Pyrenees
Stages 12 and 14 of the Tour will see the pros in the Pyrenees – Marmot Tours’ spiritual home! It’s always good to see the mighty Tourmalet (2115m) and picturesque Peyresourde (1569m) included once again. We were super chuffed to see a return of the Hautacam (1534m) to next year’s route. This climb is a corker so we include it on the day six ‘challenge’ route of our Pyrenean Classic Cols holiday. You’ll have already ticked off the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden earlier that day so it’s your choice, obviously!
Likewise, it’s great to see Superbagnères (1804m) included in the race for the first time since 1989! You can ride this on day four of our Pyrenean Classic Cols tour. Like all of our flexible-paced cycling holidays, you choose which route to ride each day, and on this tour, there are three or four routes every day, so you’re spoilt for choice! We’ve four departures of this holiday next year but two have already SOLD OUT! You know what’s coming next … get in touch if you’re interested in joining us!
Cycling in Provence
The pros will then head east to Provence to take on its giant – Mont Ventoux – a Marmot Tours favourite.
Any cyclist worth their salt will want to experience the sylvan slopes and lunar-like summit of Ventoux. There are two ways you can experience cycling Mont Ventoux with us …
Our fabulous, flexible-pace Ventoux and the Verdon Gorge tour is a delight. The Verdon Gorge is breathtaking and the foothills of Ventoux will really put a smile on your face. The crescendo of the week is Ventoux on day six, so your legs will be nicely warmed up by then. We have three departures for this holiday in 2025 BUT we only have space left on one of them, which runs from
22 – 29 May.
It goes without saying 😁 that we advise you to get in touch if this sounds of interest!
Club des Cinglés du Mont Ventoux challenge
If you like cycling with the potential for a medal at the end, why not attempt the Club des Cinglés de Mont Ventoux challenge? For those not in the know, it’s completing the three ascents of Ventoux from Bédoin, Sault, and Malaucène in one day. This is not for the faint-hearted, or to be attempted without support (i.e. we wouldn’t advise doing this self-guided!)
We have two departures for this tour next year when the climate is generally cooler:
17 – 20 May 2025
and
04 – 07 October 2025.
Check out the itinerary and drop us a line from the ENQUIRE NOW button on the webpage if you’d like to discuss if it will be right for you, your experience, and your cycling goals. Of course, any ascent of Ventoux is a feat in itself, and there’s no obligation for you to climb all three ascents on this holiday. You can decide what you feel you’re capable of on the day of the challenge, and our guides will be on hand to support you, either way.
Choosing a cycling challenge
If you’re keen on a set, point-to-point cycling challenge and you’re wondering what tour to choose, we’ve got plenty to pick from! Here we shine a light on four of them …
Raid Pyrenean road cycling tours
We’ve been supporting cyclists on the Raid Pyrenean – or Raid Pyrenees – since 2004, so we know what we’re doing. We can confidently claim that we’re THE experts and know just the kind of support cyclists need – and where they need it! We’re running five departures for this tour in 2025 and one has sold out already, so let us know if you’re interested in smashing this challenge with our support in 2025.
Raid Alpine
The mighty Raid Alpine ought to be on any discerning cyclist’s bucket list. From the shore of Lake Geneva to Nice on the Côte d’Azur, the route is peppered with Alpine peaks, picturesque pastures, and towering ridges. You can read more about this awesome itinerary here and click on the TRIP NOTES button for a deeper dive. We challenge you not to be tempted!
We’ve got places remaining on only two of our departures next year, so do drop us a line by clicking ENQUIRE NOW from the webpage.
Raid Corsica
Created by the Parisian Audax Club, this really is a stunning route. Awesome riding every day, covering the whole island – and super tough! We’ve only got one departure in 2025 so it won’t be long before it fills up. Check out the full itinerary here and drop us a line if you’d like to know more.
Raid Dolomites
Our newly crafted (for 2024) really does showcase some of the most incredible cycling in Europe. There are classic climbs of the Tour de Suisse and Giro d’Italia aplenty. This is a beast of a challenge: nine days starting at Lake Geneva and cycling through France, Switzerland, and Italy. The challenge culminates with an ascent of the mighty Mont Zoncolan – a fitting finale to a truly epic tour.
There are ONLY FOUR PLACES LEFT on one of our tours this year so you’ll have to move fast to bag one of them!
How tough is a Raid?
To complete a Raid, there’s no denying you need to be a fit cyclist capable of long days in the saddle and the ability to tackle multiple tough climbs on repeat. Training for a cycling challenge like this is a must, and we know this can be tricky in the UK where there are fewer opportunities to train on long climbs. You might want to start your planning by reading our helpful latest blog (jump to the bottom of this newsletter!) …
You also don’t want to attempt any of these challenges self-supported! While self-guided cycling holidays have their place, attempting a Raid without support is not advised!
This is when our experienced and seamless route planning, custom App with exceptional support notes, GPS files, fully kitted-out vans and not forgetting the heroes of each tour – our two guides – really come into their own.
This is the added value to be experienced on our cycling holidays, and it just isn’t available to you if you self-guide.
Finally, if you haven’t already, check out a blog that one of our guides Gav wrote for us back in 2019, which outlines Your Qs & As on Raid Cycling Challenges. Let us know if you’d like to challenge yourself in 2025, and our team can help you decide which Raid will be right for you and your goals.
New EU Entry/Exit System launch
You may (or may not) have heard about the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES). The EES is a new electronic system that will replace the physical stamping of passports when you go through passport control when arriving in and departing from your destination. It will register all entries and exits to and from the participating countries, meaning it will register your movements every time you cross a border in the EU/Schengen area.
Once the new system is live, when you go through passport control on your arrival to and departure from your destination, as well as providing your passport you will also need to have a photo taken of your face, and your fingerprints scanned. This means you should probably expect to queue for a little longer at border crossings.
Delay to implementation
It was due to be launched in November this year but it was recently announced that the launch would be delayed and no new date has been set at this stage. The EU’s Commissioner for Home Affairs confirmed that the EU will discuss the next steps with Member States and has indicated a phased approach to implementation may now be adopted.
You can read more about what this means for travellers in ABTA’s guidelines here. You can also head to the UK Government’s information webpage here.
We’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more about when the new EES is due to be implemented, and when this will impact your travel.
Our latest blog dropped last week and this time, Marmot guide Claire Balman has put pen to paper for us.
If you’ve already settled on a cycling challenge for 2025 – or even if you’re still considering one – this is a great read. Claire gives us her Top 5 Tips on How to Plan for a Cycling Challenge and we love her first tip: DON’T PANIC! It’s not too late to start training if you start now. She also gives some useful advice on how to train over winter as our daylight hours are more limited here in the northern hemisphere.
It’s a good idea to read this alongside fellow Marmot guide Emma’s blog which she wrote for us at the beginning of the year, and which outlines ways to train for cycling that don’t involve cycling!
Happy reading, and we hope they both inspire you to keep in shape over the coming months!
