Tour de France 2023
Ride the tour of your life
Jour Avant, One day ahead, Day before the Pros. Riding the Tour the France yourself has many names, but one principal always applies: This is the ride you must have experienced! And not even for the so called bragging rights, because this is a truly unforgettable and unparalleled adventure.
Flash back in time to the 23th of July 2016, around 1 o’clock in the afternoon. A massive ladies-peloton of 100 women, of which 7 have truly cycled the whole Tour, makes it entrance on the Champs-Elysees for its ceremonial lap of honour. We are glad to ride along, after nearly completing our own Tour de France. 6 lanes wide and with loud honking and cheering we are welcomed to the cobble-stoned main street of Paris. Friends and family are waiting for us and we feel on top of the world. What a mighty feeling to be able to finish like this after such an adventure!
How different was it when we started our trip 22 days earlier from the legendary Mont-Saint-Michel. Almost anonymous and only noticed by an alert Christian Prudhomme we set course for an adventure that would take us 3519 km – and just as many stories and impressions – further to Paris. We pulled it off, riding the whole Tour de France ourselves. In the same timeframe as the pro’s, but one day ahead of them. Friends forever and always connected to each other through this mighty and beautiful trip.
With this story we want to show you that cycling a Tour de France will alter you, besides a dream coming true. It is not just a sportive, physical and mental achievement or victory over yourself, but more over an amazing adventure which will have you talking about it the rest of your life.
We will cycle the whole Tour de France, one day ahead of the professionals. This is one of the toughest tests of endurance we offer in our program and therefore requires a long and decent preparation. Of course we will guide and support you with that, but it is up to you to do the hard labour and endless hours of training. Both physically and mentally you will push yourself to your limits and this is why we value an intensive preparation so much. Sign up as soon as possible (also because of limited spots) – we advise you a minimum of 6 months in advance to start training, but 9 months is preferred. This means you will have to start training before Christmas!
Flashback Tour 2022
In 2022 we had a small group of 5 participants, but still could guarantee the departure of this trip. Of these 5 heroes 4 rode the whole route, every fucking inch. Despite some serious setbacks, a mayor heatwave and failing material. As true Coureurs du Courage they faced al these challenges and placed themselves in a small and legendary group of amateurs that rode the Tour de France. Of these 5 participants, one (military man) was being followed closely by his own camera team. The video’s they have made not only resemble a good picture of the wonderful scenery, but also capture everything else a Tour de France will do to you. A must see for everyone with the ambition to undergo this adventure. You can watch all the episodes (20 minutes per episode, 6 in total) through the link below:
Practical information
Our goal is to get everyone to cycle the full distance to Paris. This means that this is no race and we will be cycling in groups of equal level as much as possible. Especially in the 'flat' stages. You don’t have to be a (ex-)professional cyclist or pack years of experience on the bike to join in. Our tours in the past have proven this, with people from all ages, genders and different levels of stamina joining in. Important is that you are a trained cyclist, have good perseverance, but above all, enjoy cycling (long distances)!
We will stay in good quality, though not luxurious, hotels. Some are also used by the professionals the day afterwards. We always try to find quiet areas, so maximal time can be spend on rest and recovery. Nutrition is optimised for the enormous caloric requirement that cycling a Grand Tour entails. Every day we will supply a finish meal, 3-course dinner or buffet, supplemented if necessary. This is also true for breakfast, lunch and en-route supplies. A shortage of food is unthinkable.
Just like the Pro’s , we will (unfortunately) always have transfers. This means some additional time will be spent in the car or bus. We do, however, try to minimalize the amount of transfers by selecting hotels in either the departure or finish town.
The Tour will start this year in Bilbao, in the heart of the Spanish Basque region. From there on, the route will set course to France via the Pyrenees and cross the central part of France. A mythical climb to the legendary Puy de Dome is included and all mayor mountain areas of France will be ticked. A great route, which offers plenty of challenges, but is also logistical doable. We are happy to offer this trip once more and hope we get enough participants together to join us this year.
Looking for more information or are you interested in participating?
Send us an e-mail and we will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
You will need to act quickly for booking this trip, since we will be closing the registration on Tuesday the 31st of January 2023. This is because we believe that you need enough preparation time as a participant in order to complete such a challenge. Six months of training and preparing is an absolute minimum to be in shape for this trip.
You can find the conditions for this guarantee scheme on STO Garant’s website (www.sto-garant.nl/en/downloads).
Contact
+ 31 6 41 36 30 53
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CoC: 76304973
VAT: NL003075523B92