Graeme Hatcher is tackling the pre-Tour La Marmotte over a 174km route between Bourg d’Oisans and Alpe d’Huez on Saturday, July 7.
The event is similar to L’Etape du Tour, with rolling road closures, feed stops etc. He is hoping to improve on his finishing place of 118th overall out of 9,000 riders last year.
In August he will contest the second annual Haute Route, a seven-day stage race sportive from Geneva to Nice covering 780km and including a mountain time trial up Alpe D’Huez.
Only 500 riders are in this one, which has almost 21,000 metres of climbing – equivalent to two-and-a-half times up Everest! Needless to say, it is the toughest and highest cyclosportive in the world.
Graeme recently finished 39th in the National 25-mile time trial championship in the North-East of England, not 79th as printed (apologies).