I raced the Etape du Tour 2026, 170km and 5,400m of climbing from Bourg d’Oisans to Alpe d’Huez, on the exact route of stage 20 of the Tour de France, six days before the pros. Croix de Fer, Telegraphe, Galibier and the Col de Sarenne in one day. I started 15 minutes down in a slow pen and spent the whole day chasing to get into the top 1000, and this is how it went.
Get yourself a Quickpro AR:ONE like I ride from Panda Podium: https://www.pandapodium.cc/product/quickpro-arone-carbon-road-bike-frameset?ref=25637
🚲 THE BIKE: full build video (QuickPro AR:One, Dura-Ace Di2, 6.3kg) https://youtu.be/zdiQtbvrPfw
The Race Plan: https://youtu.be/dDZFNz_Gi9Q
CHAPTERS
0:00 – What racing a Tour de France stage is actually like
0:48 – The night before: nerves
3:14 – Cold 6:45am start, 15 minutes down
5:57 – Climb 1: Col de la Croix de Fer
11:01- Something had to go Wrong
13:49 – Climb 2: Col du Telegraphe
15:20 – Climb 3: the mighty Galibier, and the altitude I feared
19:16 – The Galibier descent
21:00 – Climb 4: Col de Sarenne
24:04 – The final descent to Alpe d’Huez
25:15 – The finish line
27:50 – Results
THE ROUTE Le Bourg d’Oisans to Alpe d’Huez, 170km, 5,400m Col de la Croix de Fer, 24km at 5.2% Col du Telegraphe, 11.9km at 7.1% Col du Galibier, 17.7km at 6.9%, topping out at 2,642m Col de Sarenne, 12.8km at 7.3%, then the back way into Alpe d’Huez (not the 21 hairpins)
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Business Email: tom@tbcycling.uk
#EtapeDuTour #TourDeFrance #AlpeDHuez #cycling #granfondo
29 Comments
Epic ride Tom, you smashed it❤
Gave you a shout on Croix de Fer, saw you look bad and give a quick smile🤣
Chapeau. Timing of L’Étape didn’t suit me this year but similar course to Marmotte. Surprised to learn that La Sarenne surface not patched up for the pros. I’ve skied down that road many times and it must be pretty rough
Super strong ride, great video, fantastic result! 🎉👏
I drove up to Valmeinier 1800 last year to stay a few days to hike. I was really really missing a bike to do that Galibier climb 😭
Bro, you made that look so straight forward. Unbelievable power for that duration.
daaam 250+w in on all the uphill …thats me zone 4, I keep tranning to get better , Greate vid, what a views !!!
4:09 I am not going to lie: I want to live n a place where the backdrop for your training rides is some 3D render looking mountain range that is in fact, a mountain range, with roads up it you can ride if you so desire. Holy GP 5000s batman, that horizon is flippin' EPIC.
Bragging for 30 minutes about how many people you're dropping is poor form.
Excellent effort there Tom. Thanks for the video
The views are absolute 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Love your channel. I am 61, and I still have to do all the TDF premiere stages, Alpes d Huez, Mt Ventoux, Galibier. I did the 80th D-day in Normandy with my 1992 Peugeot. Not sure it can do the mountain stages, but that is all I have in Europe. Greetings from Las Vegas : )
I am a L Etape Las Vegas finisher, 3 years in a row. Unfortunately TDF cancelled the event in the future. So sad. I don t think I could have done your event : ) Great video. So motivating to do my bucket list TDF stages : )
What a wonderful video! Also congrats on the finish position!🎉
The video was such an easy watch, great editing. Congrats for your results
Great vid! Shame you couldn't have started in the first group, but at least it probably made it easier to keep your powder dry for later on in the race. Really good watts later on in the event too so no surprises you were passing people the whole way. So easy to blow up and do the last few climbs at 180/200w's! So well done and a great result
Cheers, amazing ride.
Did the Marmotte Granfondo this year. It’s an open race that follows almost exactly the same route (except it goes over the glandon not the last bit to the croix de fer).
Incredibly hard especially with the 35°+ on the day of the race.
Beating Ollie is YT SOP
Excellent video Tom. And wonderful format with all the data on screen. Makes such a difference. You deserve a solid sponsor
Bro did you just sleep in the grass in that tent? No bottom sail? Beware of ticks there!
Great performance! See you next year sas 0!
7:47 I think they were fine, they just braked a bit late, no reason to call them idiots
I dont understand how you can talk that easily around 180BPM. Is that zone 2 for you? I would expect you not be able to talk around those BPM's 😅
Im a 60 year old that didn't finish, got stopped on the first descent due to crash requiring helicopter rescue, stuck under full sun for about 15 to 20 mins, started to feel ill at bottom of valley , had stomach pains and had to rush to toilet 4 times on the galibier.. got to bottom of last climb only to be timed out by less than minute, i could see the last rider going up hill just infront, but police wouldn't let us up… It was probably a good thing as i was in a bad state.i still had a good day but total suffer fest…Saw many people throwing up… Well done for finishing it was a tough day…
Fantastic ride, great video! 👍
Well done. You may have felt the fatigue but it didn't show. You rode a good pace and managed your effort throughout.
The production level on this, for a self-filmed competitor is astonishing. Some aspects are superior to what we get from professional tour coverage.
Epic ride and a great video to tell the story. Well done!
The racing actually starts at the 3:45 marker. So many youtubers these days just want to hear themselves talk. I wish more would just get to the meat of the video and spare us their incesent rambling and self indulgence.
well done i’ve done a few of these and this was definitely the toughest. Galibier last few kms i was deep in the red. Same for last few of Sarenne. Never felt happier to finish a race.