Eat Sleep Cycle is an Official Tour Operator of L’Étape du Tour de France. Your race entry comes from our official allocation with the organisers, so there’s no scramble when public entries open. Your start line is secured the moment you book.
L’Étape du Tour is the one day a year you get to ride a full Tour de France mountain stage on closed roads, with the same start arch, timing and roadside crowds as the pros. For 2027 that’s Cluses to the ski station of Les Saisies, on Sunday 11 July: 154 km and 4,850 m of climbing over the Col de la Colombière, the Aravis, the Col du Pré and the Montée de Bisanne.
We’ve built five nights around that one day. Three nights on the shores of Lake Annecy at the 4-star Hôtel Le Pélican, with coached rides over the Col de Leschaux, the Grand Colombier and the Col de la Forclaz, plus a long endurance day out to Albertville. Then we move you to Megève, around 40 minutes from the start line, for two nights at the Coeur de Megève. The night before the race we run a full briefing on the route, your pacing and your fuelling. On the day, the ESC crew takes your warm layers at the start, runs our own feed station on course and has food, drinks and massage waiting at the finish. Then we sit down together for the celebration dinner.
Twenty places and a five-person ESC team. Your job is to ride.
Rated 4 out of 4 our Epic tours are designed for people who train 3 or 4 times a week and are looking to push themselves on back to back challenging days on the bike. Riders should be confident riding in a small group, comfortable on extended climbs (at your own pace) and have good bike handling skills on corners and descents. E-bikes are available on all of our tours.
Welcome to the Alps. Make your own way to the shores of Lake Annecy, or let us collect you from Geneva Airport with an optional transfer (around 45 minutes). Home for the next three nights is Hôtel Le Pélican, a stylish 4-star hotel right on the lakefront, with a pool, a pétanque court and the Ô Bon Bec restaurant, a short stroll along the water from Annecy’s canal-lined old town.
We meet at Hôtel Le Pélican at 12:00 noon on Day 1. Once you’re checked in, our mechanics build and fit your bike. Rent one of our premium carbon race machines and it’ll be set up to your measurements and waiting for you. Then we roll straight out from the hotel door to shake out the travel legs on a 42 km warm-up loop over the Col de Leschaux, a steady climb through forest and pasture at the southern end of the lake. Nothing heroic: just your first taste of Alpine tarmac, and a chance for the coaches to see how you ride.
In the evening we meet as a group for a welcome dinner and run through the week ahead. Four days to go. The countdown starts here.
Today is the big one before the big one. We roll out of Annecy over the Mont Clergeon and drop to the Rhône at Culoz, at the foot of the Grand Colombier. It’s one of the hardest climbs in France and a modern Tour de France favourite: the race finished on its summit on Bastille Day 2023. From Culoz it’s a long, relentless haul through the hairpins, with ramps well into double figures.
This is a coached day with a purpose. Your coach works with you on pacing a long climb at Étape effort: how hard to start, when to eat, and what it should feel like with thousands of metres still to come. From the top, the views stretch across the Jura to Mont Blanc on a clear day, before a fast descent and a well-earned lunch stop: crêpes in Anglefort, or the bakery in Seyssel if you fancy something different. Then it’s a rolling return through the Val de Fier gorges to Annecy.
At 126 km and over 3,100 metres, it’s the longest training day of the week, and the support vehicle is with you all the way.
A long, steady endurance day to bank some kilometres in the legs. We roll south along the western shore of Lake Annecy, through the old lakeside village of Duingt and on through the valley past Faverges and Ugine to Albertville, host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics, where the Arly meets the Isère.
From there we swing into the Combe de Savoie before turning for home, back up the valley and along the lake to Annecy. With only around 1,150 m of climbing in 126 km, this is a day for riding as a group at a steady tempo: practising the eating, drinking and drafting that will save you energy on Sunday.
Back in Annecy, the evening is yours: a swim in the lake, a wander through the old town, then dinner together. Big miles, easy legs.
One last ride on Lake Annecy before we head for the mountains. We follow the eastern shore to Talloires and turn uphill for the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin, steep in its final kilometres and topped with one of the great views of the Alps: the whole turquoise length of the lake laid out below you, with paragliders launching off the ridge beside the road. A fast descent to Doussard and the lakeside cycle path bring us back to Annecy. It’s a short, sharp openers ride: enough intensity to wake the legs, not enough to tire them.
After lunch, the ESC team moves you, your bike and your luggage to Megève, the elegant ski village beneath Mont Blanc, around 40 minutes from Sunday’s start in Cluses. Home for the final two nights is the Coeur de Megève, right in the heart of the village.
We collect your race pack and bib at the Étape village and the mechanics give every bike a final check. In the late afternoon we run the race briefing: the route climb by climb, your pacing plan, what to eat and when, and exactly how race morning works. Early dinner, kit laid out, early night. Tomorrow you ride the Tour.
Sunday 11 July 2027. This is it. Early breakfast, then we get you to the start in Cluses. Hand your warm layers to the ESC crew, find your start pen and roll out under the arch with thousands of riders on fully closed roads.
The road kicks up almost straight away on the Col de la Colombière, 15.9 km at 7%: a proper Tour climb before you’ve had time to settle. Then it’s across the Aravis range and down to the Arly valley, before the route swings into the Beaufortain for the Col du Pré above the glittering Lac de Roselend. Out on course, our private ESC feed station has your food, bottles and a familiar face. Then comes the sting in the tail: the Montée de Bisanne, 12.4 km at 8.3%, the last big climb before the finish at Les Saisies. In all, 154 km and 4,850 m of climbing. See the official route.
Cross the line and the ESC finish area has food, drinks and massage waiting. We get you back to Megève to clean up, then we celebrate together over a proper dinner. You’ve just ridden a stage of the Tour de France.
A slow breakfast, a few war stories and a last look at Mont Blanc. Our mechanics get your bike ready for the journey home, then it’s time to say au revoir. Optional transfers to Geneva Airport (around 1 hour 15 minutes) are available on request. Bon voyage, and see you on the next one.
FULL SUPPORT, RACE DAY INCLUDED
A five-person ESC team looks after twenty riders all week: ride leaders and coaches on the road, a support vehicle on every ride, and mechanics who build, fit and service your bike.
On race day the crew is spread across the course: collecting warm layers at the start in Cluses, running our private feed station, and staffing the ESC finish area in Les Saisies with food, drinks and massage.
All guests get access to our digital Road Book and the Ride with GPS routes for every ride.
Hotels shown are examples and are subject to change
A stylish 4-star hotel right on the shores of Lake Annecy, a short stroll along the water from the old town. Contemporary rooms and suites, a lakeside pool, a pétanque court and the Ô Bon Bec restaurant and lounge: a lovely base for three days of riding around the lake.
A 4-star boutique hotel in the pedestrian heart of Megève, steps from the church square. 38 rooms and suites in warm wood and Alpine style, an intimate spa with Finnish sauna, Beefbar restaurant and the Le Meige cocktail bar: the perfect base for race weekend.
Bike rental is not included in the package. Want to race on something special? Rent a premium race bike from our Nice hub fleet: the Colnago Y1Rs or V5Rs and the Wilier Filante SLR ID2 (all Shimano Ultegra Di2), or the ENVE Fray (SRAM Force AXS). Your bike is set up to your measurements by our mechanics and waiting for you in Annecy. Prefer your own bike? Bring it along and our mechanics will build it, service it during the week and get it race-ready.
Rental bikes are subject to availability in your size. Ask us about options when you book.
Originally from Cardiff, Gethyn is a well-balanced guide who loves the social side of cycling. Whether he’s talking endlessly about the world or enjoying a “marriage made in heaven” (cold beer and pork scratchings), he finds his peace on the road between Tossa and Sant Feliu or swimming in a forest river.
The soaring peaks and deep green valleys of the Alps stretch north from the French coast through northern Italy and beyond. Best experienced in summer, these dramatic landscapes are home to legendary climbs such as the Passo Stelvio, The Passo Mortirolo and the Passo Gavia in Italy, and the Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier, Col de la Madeleine and the Alpe d’Huez in France, many of which are commonly featured in the Tour de France.
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