The World's Greatest Bike Race: The Alps with Casual Inns

Meet your Backroads Trip Leaders (the folks wearing Backroads T-shirts) at 12:45 p.m. in front of the Grenoble train station in Grenoble, France. You will have time to change into your biking clothes before the ride today.

Shuttle to Les Deux Alpes 1 Hour

Les Deux Alpes Warm-up Loop 15 Miles (2,550’ elevation gain)

Bienvenue en France! While the racers battle it out during the Tour de France’s first time trial, we shuttle to our hotel in Les Deux Alpes. A stage finish town in 1998 and 2002, Les Deux Alpes is associated with an annual memorial event for Italian cycling champion Marco Pantani. Set just below Europe’s largest skiable glacier, it’s also one of France’s most popular ski resort villages. After introductions and a brief review of trip logistics, your Backroads leaders fit your bike and conduct a demonstration of biking techniques and safety. (If you’ve brought your own bike, you’ll have time to assemble it today.) This afternoon’s warm-up ride is a great introduction to the alpine climbing ahead of us this week. We descend Les Deux Alpes and then wind our way through the dramatic scenery of Gorges de l’Infernet. Enjoy the vertigo-inducing route back up the mountain to our hotel.

If you have time and energy after the ride, take a stroll on one of the many walking trails just steps from our hotel. Or browse the shops in Les Deux Alpes. And of course, there’s always the option of taking a dip in the pool or a soak in the hot tub! Before dinner, we gather at our hotel for a welcome drink and some Tour de France chat before heading to a local restaurant for our first meal together.

Lodging: Le Souleil’Or

While the racers enjoy a well-deserved rest day, we prepare to tackle one of the most stunning and challenging routes in France: the famous hairpins of Alpe d’Huez. Having attained a nearly mythic status as the Tour’s oldest altitude finish, the Alpe d’Huez ski resort stands at the end of a heart-pumping climb that spans nine miles and 21 switchbacks at an average eight percent grade. It’s been a frequent stage finish since it first appeared on the route in 1952. Fausto Coppi (in 1952), Lance Armstrong (in 2001 and 2004) and Carlos Sastre (in 2008) are the only three riders who have won the Alpe d’Huez stage and the Tour in the same year.

After this truly epic ascent, you may choose to shuttle back to the hotel or continue riding. If Alpe d’Huez was not enough for you, continue down the backside of the mountain toward the Sarenne River and then make your way up Col de Sarenne. Enjoy the descent through small picturesque alpine villages to the base of Les Deux Alpes, finishing the day with yet another challenging climb back up to our hotel.

This evening you are on your own to dine at one of the village’s many fine restaurants. Whichever one you choose, be sure to celebrate the accomplishment of conquering the Alpe d’Huez!

Lodging: Le Souleil’Or

Biking Options:

Alpe D’Huez Route: 23 Miles* (3,350’ elevation gain)

Alpe D’Huez & Col de Sarenne Route: 43 Miles* (6,500’)

*with shuttle

As the pros battle it out on a mountainous 120-mile day, we embark on a ride of our own that can appropriately be described as epic. After descending Les Deux Alpes, you’re in store for two massive mountain climbs. Starting from Barrage du Verney, the legendary Col du Glandon is a straightforward 15-mile ascent, which includes a grueling stretch at 11 percent grade. Enjoy an exhilarating downhill into the town of La Chambre, where Backroads provides a quick ravitaillement (bike speak for refueling) before we tackle yet another big challenge, the Col de la Madeleine. (Or if you’ve had enough for today, take the shuttle to our next hotel in Courchevel.) Starting from La Chambre, the ride up Col de la Madeleine is almost 12 miles long at an average eight percent grade. Descending from Madeleine, we breeze into the celebrated spa town of La Léchère.

Our home for tonight is Hôtel Radiana, a modest Art Decostyle hotel frequented for its hammam, sauna and wellness center. While not a typical Backroads hotel, it was chosen for its proximity to the Tour and extraordinary biking.

Lodging: Hôtel Radiana

Biking Options:

Col du Glandon Route: 25 Miles* (3,800’ elevation gain)

Col du Glandon & Col de la Madeleine Route: 65 Miles (8,800’)

*with shuttle

Get ready for our first day of live Tour action today! As Stage 11 gets underway, the boys depart Albertville and begin the arduous 87-mile journey over a few of the classics: Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Mollard. Meanwhile, we head off on two wheels to again tackle the Col de la Madeleine (this time from a different direction), whose slopes provide a stunning backdrop for today’s Tour excitement. Once you arrive on the mountain, settle into your roadside spectating spot and enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere during the long wait for the peloton’s arrival. Join in the trinket-gathering frenzy as the publicity caravan rolls by. When the pros finally appear, grab your noisemaker and yell loudly as your favorites hammer past. (They do hear you, and it does help keep them going!) After the final riders and the voiture balai (sweep car or “broom wagon”) pass, the road reopens for us to make our way back down the other side of Col de la Madeleine to La Chambre, where a shuttle awaits to take us to our next hotel.

We’ll do our best to outpace the peloton so we can watch the stage finish on television at our next hotel, warm and contemporary Altédia Lodge & Hotel, located just outside of Chambéry. Tonight we dine together at the hotel’s restaurant, the trendy and chic Maison Rouge.

Lodging: Altédia Lodge & Hotel

La Léchère to La Chambre Route 30 Miles (5,100’ elevation gain)

Shuttle to Chambéry 1 Hour

Today we are ideally situated near the beginning of Stage 12. In the words of the Tour director, Christian Prudhomme, “If they want to put themselves out of the reach of the sprinters, the fighters are advised to take advantage of the imposing Col du Grand Cucheron and the Col du Granier, situated in the first part of the stage.”

We spin our way to Col du Granier and settle in to watch the action unfold. Cheer on the riders as the peloton passes by a mere few feet away. After ascending the Col, the Tour has another 87 miles to go before the finish, so we’ll continue riding in the surrounding area before making our way back to the hotel in time to watch the finish on television. (Or catch it alongside enthusiastic locals in a nearby café!)

At our farewell dinner tonight, we revel in both the incredible events we’ve watched take place this week and in our own fantastic rides punctuated with magnificent scenery.

Lodging: Altédia Lodge & Hotel

Biking Options:

Col du Granier Out-&-Back: 20 Miles (2,250’ elevation gain)

Col du Granier Loop: 50 Miles (3,800’)

As the peloton embarks on a 133-mile stage between SaintPaul-Trois-Châteaux and Le Cap d’Agde, you can sleep in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast. If you’d like to stretch your legs one last time, set out on a scenic morning spin in the shadows of Mont Revard. Later we reconvene at the hotel to say our goodbyes before shuttling to the Chambéry train station.

Mont Revard Loop 30 Miles (3,500 elevation gain)