Marmotte 2024

Author: Michael Duncan
Date: 29th June 2024

A couple of weeks back 9 Wheelers headed to the French Alpes for a bit of RnR and to ride the Marmotte. For those that don’t know the Marmotte it starts in Bourg d’Oisans and takes in the Col du Glandon, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier and then finishing at the top of Alpe D’Huez over 177Km and approx. 5000m of climbing!

The warmup

We arrived in Bourg d’Oisans on Wednesday before the Marmotte on Saturday for a few “warm up” rides and to relax and become acclimatised to the surroundings. Why is it you spend months preparing for something, you lose weight and barely drink alcohol to just get drunk on your first night away……..anyway we had a route planned for Thursday which I feel I must mention in the report because it was one of the best rides I have ever done.

So, if you are ever in the region take note:
Start in Bourg d’Oisans – Col de la Morte – Col d’Ornon – Bourg d’Oisans. 110Km. 2000m elevation.

Of the 9 that traveled to France, 6 of us had previously done the Marmotte 2 years earlier it was one of the toughest rides I have ever done due to the heat, I recall that day climbing the Alpe in around 35 degree and the road just strewn with running water, ambulances and broken riders trying to hide from the sun. This previous experience was creating lot of discussion and expectation of another hellish ride, there were a few nervous faces around the dinner table.

The Marmotte

The day finally arrived which was on the Saturday this year which was brought forward by one day due to the French elections.

We all start off in an early wave and just like the previous version it was full gas for the first 10km out of Bourg to the bottom of the Glandon. This will be the last time we are all together on the ride with Dion and Andy O and Carl pushing on into the initial 10% ramps of the Glandon. The remaining 6 riders (Adam, Andy M, Ken, Simon, Will and myself) have agreed that a pacing strategy is the way forward for the Marmotte and we take the Glandon steady. The Glandon is around 23km long with varied steepness, a downhill km, and switchbacks up past a dam, but its very long. It took the 6 around 1 hour 45mins to crest the Glandon with us all still pretty much together and having behaved ourselves very well. Temp at the top of the Glandon was around 17 degrees at around 9am, but at 2000m concern was growing that it was going to turn into another sauna later in the day.

We descended the Glandon which is the best descent of the day. It takes about half an hour, the 6 re-group at the bottom before we leave the town of Saint-Etienne-de-Cuines to the valley.

We now have the 45 minute valley road across to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne where we meet the Col du Telegraphe (my favourite climb on the route). The valley road is probably the worst part of the whole event, the road is open to traffic it runs on a main road and on the day it was very gusty, dusty, humid and the temp was around 28 degrees (concern around the heat was growing). The key to the valley road is get in a large group and do as little as possible as it is mostly false flat uphill. But it appears that our group which swelled to around 30-40 riders all had the same idea, it was quite a stressful 45 mins of no one wanting to take a turn. Even captain cool Will Adams managed to fall out with a rider, I couldn’t wait to get to the Telegraphe to get off this horrible stretch.

Simon, Adam, Will and myself stop to fill our water bottles before hitting the Telegraphe, Andy M and Ken keep going ….. will we see them again??

We start the Telegraphe, Adam at this point tells us to crack on as he wants to climb at his own pace. Simon, Will and myself push on up the Telegraphe which is a consistent 7% for 12km which takes about an hour and we are making some good progress and get into our rhythm passing a lot of riders. We eventually reach the feed station at the top, Ken and Andy M are there, but they are not in a talkative mood and quickly crack on down the 4km descent to Valloire.

Simon, Will and myself get to Valloire which signifies the start of the Galibier, from the previous edition this is where the Marmotte gets tough. Temp is around 17 degrees in Valliore (1430m above sea level) I’m feeling quite good, things are going well. We start to climb out of Valliore, it’s a headwind and it starts to rain, the temp quickly drops to about 12 degrees. I’m starting to get concerned, it’s raining, temp is dropping and we have to climb to around 2650m, I voice my concerns to Simon and Will, who basically just shrug their shoulders, we power on. We reach the steeper part of the Galibier and Will is starting to pull away from me and Simon is starting to drop off my pace. As I reach nearer the top I can see Ken in the distance, suddenly, I seem to be flying up the mountain and go past Ken a couple of km before the top. I stop at the feed station 1km from the top of the Galibier, Will is there and Ken joins just as I leave. The weathers grim and windy, we are not allowed to go to the top of the Galibier pass and are directed by the police through the tunnel to the other side of the Galibier.

We now have about 50km of descent to the foot of Alpe D’Huez, the first 8km of descent to the Col du Lautaret is narrow, wet and I take it very steady but then it was tailwind descent on a wide road and its full gas, I catch up with Will and pass him. Temperature is starting to rise again, but it is no where near where it was the previous year. I’m feeling good still and am starting to count the time, I’m thinking I will be sub 8 hours, so I keep pushing on.

I start the bottom of Alpe D’Huez with Will, and we are taking it steady we are ticking off the hairpins and this time there are no ambulances, no blood, and guts all over the road, everyone is climbing steady, temperature is fine. About halfway up the Alpe, Will decides my conversation is no longer interesting and leaves me as he pulls away, it started to rain gently.

And that was it, I rode the final 10 bends chatting away to other riders going up Alpe D’Huez, just taking it easy. I cross the finish line and there was Will and Carl who had just finished together. Simon then rolled in about 10 minutes later.

And just like that it was all over….