Qualify for the UCI Granfondo World Championships at the GF Vosges. Your Training Plan Part 2
Marvin Faure presents Part 2 of a framework training plan to give you the best chance of qualifying for the UCI Granfondo World Championships at the GF Vosges, to be held on May 19th, 2024.
Qualify for the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships: what bike-handling skills do you need?
Marvin and Silas from Gran Fondo coaching specialist Alpine Cols discuss some of the key bike-handling skills you will need to qualify. The video was taken by Marvin at the Corima Drôme Provençale, a popular early-season sportive taking place in March near Montélimar
Etape du Tour 2024 first ride
Granfondo coaching specialist Marvin Faure presents the route for the 2024 Etape du Tour in this first-ride video. Starting in Nice and finishing on the col de la Couillole, the route is 139km long and climbs 4,600m. It includes four major climbs, the col de Braus, col de Turini, la Colmiane (col Saint-Martin) and finally the col de la Couillole for a summit finish. The amateur event will take place on July 7, while the professionals will ride on it Stage 20, on July 20.
Your Training Plan for the Tour du Mont Blanc, Part 1
Marvin explains how to prepare for the Tour du Mont Blanc. At 330km and 8,300m of climbing it is a huge challenge and probably the longest day you will ever spend on a bike. Allow between 12 and 19 hours to be an official finisher, with a 5am start and the finish line closing at midnight. If you are thinking of doing it, you should prepare very seriously and preferably over several years. This video is about the first part of your training, from the beginning of November to the end of March.
What does it take to ride a Cent Cols Challenge?
In this exchange with Bryan Taylor, InfoCrank power meter, Marvin Faure shares what he learned in riding the Cent Cols Challenge Corsica in Oct.2021: 1,850 km and 38,000m of elevation in ten days. He describes the event, analyses power and HR numbers and talks about how he trained for it as well as the lessons learned from a successful ride.
How to ride faster at your next Granfondo
Granfondo coaching specialist Marvin Faure explains the 4 main ways we at Alpine Cols coach you to ride faster without increasing your FTP and without making any changes to your training plan. The secret? It’s about riding smarter, not about training harder.
How to save time and cycle faster with no extra effort at a Granfondo
We explain six different ways to save time and cycle faster with no extra effort at a Granfondo. These tips will help you gain time and finish earlier and higher up the rankings without having to push harder on the pedals. Presented by Marvin Faure, from Alpine Cols the Granfondo coaching specialists.
Granfondo pacing: how fast on the climbs?
There’s always a lot of climbing on a Granfondo, so it is really important to get your pace right on the climbs. The coaching team at Alpine Cols has ridden dozens of Granfondos and we always see the same mistake: people start the first climb much too fast, swept along by the excitement, hoping for a miracle. As the US-based triathlon coach Alan Couzens has said, “your race pace is derived from evidence, not hope”. If you pace yourself correctly, you’ll catch these people later and finish a long time before them. Let me show you how.
How to get your best result at the Marmotte (2023)
The two most important things to get right for a successful ride at the famously challenging French Granfondo are PACING and NUTRITION. Alpine Cols coach Marvin explains how to determine your pace based on evidence (not hope!) and how to fuel properly for a successful ride. See also the 2022 version of this presentation for additional factors to consider, including 5 mistakes to avoid and 5 go-faster tips.
Granfondo pacing: how fast at the start?
Granfondos always start too fast. The leaders want to get away and everybody else wants to ride with people slightly faster than themselves. So if you want to get a good result, you too have to start too fast. If you don’t, most of the other riders at your level will be in front working together and you will never catch them. But if you overdo it and keep going too hard for too long, you will blow up and find yourself overtaken by weaker riders. So how to get this right?
This is what it takes to finish the Etape du Tour
This video is for you if you are a relatively new or inexperienced cyclist and a first-timer at the Etape. Your goal might be simply to finish, or it might be to ride it as a real race, as fast as you can. Either way, Alpine Cols is here to help you become a better cyclist.