UCI GranFondo World Championship Qualifying Camp, Vosges (May 2024)

Etape du Tour camp

Just completed the superb Etape du Tour camp in Nice with Alpine Cols. A fantastic experience – so much learning and insight packed into five days of riding. I’ll now be substantially faster at the race itself. Highly recommended!

An outstanding week!

With huge thanks to Marvin, Emmanuelle and the coaching team. The organisation was flawless throughout, allowing us to fully concentrate on becoming better cyclists. I now shudder to think how (or indeed whether) I would have finished the Etape du Tour without attending the training camp first. I can’t recommend Alpine Cols more highly!

Amazing coaching camp

Great to learn some basic yet essential bike skills like climbing and descending, definitely more to the art than meets the eye.
Excellent coaches that all go above and beyond.
Big thanks to all the staff, I had a great time and will definitely try and do it again next year.

Etape du Tour

As someone who took up serious cycling in the last couple of years, I found the 5 days of coaching very informative in preparation for the 2024 étape du tour, my first time. Learnt quite a bit on descending and ascending mountains, nutrition etc. The coaching staff gave personal attention throughout the 5 days. We are planning to do another coaching session again next year.

Fabulous coaching camp

Fabulous coaching camp – the coaching element is priceless, with multiple perspectives and interaction.
Add to this impeccable choice of hotels and smooth logistics, Marvin should be the first port of call for anyone doing an Alpine event.

Success at the Marmotte

Thank you all of you !!! 

the race was demanding 

my preparation was really good 

I thank Marvin again for his precious advice 

Thank you

The Etape was really tough… People were lying on the side or walking their bikes…

I guess at least 4000 abandons.

I suffered of course but I did it in 10h 24’. I was far from being the last one. 

I was good in descent and good to stand up on the bike in climbs. Thank you Marvin 

I owe you guys a lot…

Thanks guys, I owe you guys a lot in managing my effort and being in my best form…and quite literally thought about your descending advice Silas during the descents!

Great help for the Etape du Tour!

The Jan camp work very much helped with the sustained uphill climbing and fast downhill technique!

Great training camp

Thank you and your team for such a great training camp. I have improved my fitness, descending skills, had great food and overall a very good experience. I really wish you can expend your training camp programs because you certainly deserve to.

Please also pass my special thanks to Olivier as he has put a special effort to train, teach and support me on the road.

You can certainly count me in at the next years Haute Route training program.

Simply the best…

This was the best cycling training camp I have ever been to. I improved my skill of descending on the drops and increased confidence in doing so. My fitness improved and I more than doubled the number of vertical metres I had climbed this year. Also, I learnt a great about training with a power meter and increased my knowledge of ways to recover.
The best things about the training camp were having a variety of professionals on hand to ask questions, massage and osteo available at the end of the day and the descending clinic. Also, the food was fantastic!

Exceeded my expectations

I found my week with Alpine Cols in Tenerife exceeded my expectations. In particular I have learnt how to descend safer and faster (a key objective for me on the trip). Over the week I noticed a marker improvement In 4 distinct descending techniques, as well as areas to continue to work on. i believe will lead to me being able to race with faster groups downhill, as well as corner faster on road races.

The individual coaching over the week, particularly from Silas one of the coaches also improved my climbing (on and off the saddle). Surprising I think some improved power with some improved stretching after the ride and pedal technique in specific circumstances. The practical nutrition advice which should reduce the amount of low energy time in the events.

The level of support was incredible with 6 guides/coaches for 9 of us.

Hotels were traditional and excellent, with plenty of thought and planning put into the nutrition (e.g. lunch also available immediately after the ride, and good nutrition choices For all three meals).

I would recommend Alpine Cols to anyone who was serious about improving their skills on a bike. I felt the coaching was good value for money, and far exceeded any other cycle holiday I have been on. The coaches are up to speed with the latest scientific studies, and communicate the knowledge in easy to digest and implement bit size chunks, repeated when necessary. E.g. watching a video of myself riding with expert commentary quickly provided me with a proper understanding of how I was riding, which was not the same as the previous image in my head.

Coming back for more

Tenerife 2022

I have been at the Tenerife coaching camp just recently at the beginning of February and it was a great experience. At first I was a bit worried as I am not the fastest rider but actually the coaches adapt to the very fast and also to the slower and slowest riders. If needed the group is split and I always found a comfortable position within the Alpine Cols peloton and never felt bad because of potentially holding back others.

I got a lot of personalised very useful feedback and learned how to improve my technique during the post ride video analysis sessions. The ambiance is also great and being able to focus only on riding and knowing that everything else is being taken care of makes me feel like a pro.

Thank you, Marvin, for the experience in February. I will see later this year how the camp pays off during the competition season but I already know that I have started my cycling year in the best possible way and feel well prepared for what is going to come.

I can only recommend AlpineCols coaching camps and will hopefully be back at one soon too.

A long relationship

I met Marvin In 2017 at Haute Route Dolomites. Alpine Cols was a Haute Route sponsor and has extensive experience and training in the mountains. I was so impressed with Marvin that in 2018 My wife Char and I attended a training camp in La Clusaz, France. It was the beginning of many cycling camps and adventures we have attended with Marvin and his team.

They are truly remarkable and have helped us in learning proper descending techniques, pacing and climbing skills. We always have a great time with memorable once in a lifetime rides followed by awesome dinners- I would highly recommend Alpine Cols to all levels of riders. The goal is to have fun and improve !!

Thank you Marvin and Alpine Cols.

Five years of feedback

If you’re looking to come away as a better, more competent and confident rider after a training camp experience, look no further than Alpine Cols. I’ve known Marvin and the team for 5 years and what they offer is truly unique and unsurpassed in my experience. I’ve flirted with training camps in the US (only because Alpine Cols hasn’t reached there yet!) and I can honestly say that you’ll get so much more from a weekend with the Alpine Cols than you would at multiple training camps elsewhere. To this day, I’m eternally grateful to them for the skills I’ve learnt on the bike from race strategy, pacing, when to fuel, how to get free miles when descending safely and enjoyably to benefiting from tips such as how best to engage my glutes! I still recall the on bike guidance and encouragement I got from Marvin when putting my newly honed skills into practice during the sportive on the last day of camp – where else can you get one-to-one real time feedback? What brilliant way to bring the training to an end!
On top of all this, the camps are beautiful locations, with great food and superb company. Everything is thought through and taken care of so that all you’ve to do is turn up, ride your bike and have fun. They’re great people because they care about you and what they do. A highly professional, capable, trustworthy and fun team. I guarantee that you’ll come away from their camps with a greater a belief in your riding ability. I couldn’t recommend them more and I look forward to joining them on the bike agin soon.

The standard is second-to-none…

The standard of the coaching camps run by Marvin and Alpine Cols is absolutely second-to-none; we have done a number of them over recent years including Tenerife, St Tropez, and the Alps and all have been excellent. From the pre-trip information pack to the post-trip feedback, advice and photographs, it is the attention to detail that stands out.
The daily rides, each with a different emphasis – climbing, descending, pacing, group riding, nutrition etc – are well structured and varied and complemented by the evening workshops.
The hotels are always well chosen and the food (from the huge breakfasts, post-ride lunches or lovely evening meals) and company really good. The coaching both on and off the bike by Marvin or his team of experienced coaches is also excellent, but delivered in a very relaxed and pleasant manner, creating a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.
We’re not the most talented of riders but have learnt huge amounts (and have improved markedly) through these coaching camps and would recommend them to anyone who is serious about improving their cycling abilities, either for Granfondo-type rides or multi-day stage events, whilst thoroughly enjoying temselves at the same time.