Marmotte Granfondo Alps 2025

The date for the next edition of La Marmotte Granfondo Alps is confirmed as 22 June 2025.

Entries will open on Friday 22 November 2024.

La Marmotte: The greatest European cyclosportive?

For many sportive riders the Marmotte is the ultimate European sportive. Around 7,500 riders take part each year on the first weekend in July, with the fastest riders completing in around 5 hours 45 minutes and the slowest taking anything up to 13 hours.

La Marmotte features three HC climbs over its 186km route and has a total of 5530 metres of climbing, making it one of the toughest courses of any sportive in the world.

The Marmotte usually starts with a climb of the Col du Glandon, which weighs in at 27.5km with an average gradient of 4.5% to a height of 1924 metres. From there you drop down (on a route so steep that it is not included in your overall time to try and stop riders from dangerously speeding) to the start of the Col du Telegraphe.

However, the 2021 edition removed the ascent of Col du Glandon with riders instead facing another classic: the Col de la Croix de Fer.

After the descent, the course proceeds as before to the Col du Telegraphe.

That leads to the Col du Galibier, one of the most famous climbs in worldwide cycling. The Telegraphe/Galibier combination is 35km of almost continuous climbing at an average gradient of 5.48% to a height of 2642 metres. Towards the top of the Galibier the gradient gets up to 15% and on a windy or cold day it is brutal.

There then follows a rapid 47km descent to Bourg d'Oisans and the start of a final ascent of the 21 hairpin bends of Alpe d'Huez. For all but the elite riders this is usually a major struggle as the sun will be baking in the early afternoon - the 2013 Marmotte saw riders experience 44 degrees centigrade heat on this climb.

For the past couple of years riders have been able to enter the Marmotte Ultrafondo, a longer version of the Marmotte course with an extra climb of Alpe d'Huez. When entries opened for 2024 the Marmotte Ultrafondo was at first listed as an option; however, the organisers have now confirmed that the Marmotte Ultrafondo will not run in 2024.

How to Enter

Entries for La Marmotte 2024 opened on 13 October 2023. The date changes every year - as does the timing when it goes on sale - and we suggest you sign up to our newsletter which will alert you to when registration opens. Entries sell out very quickly - often in less than a day.

Sportive.com aim to alert our newsletter subscribers within 30 minutes of entries going on sale...so do sign up and keep yourself informed about the Marmotte, Etape and other legendary sportives and gran fondos.

We thoroughly recommend the Marmotte to anyone considering riding it. Organisers Sports Communication do a superb job of putting on the event on some of the most iconic climbs in worldwide cycling. This is a sportive that everyone should do at least once.

Check out the following Marmotte related articles:

• The Marmotte route profile with detailed analysis of the 174km ride
• Marmotte package tour operator recommendations
• Jim Cotton's 2018 Marmotte ride report in which he finished 123rd
• Joe Saumarez Smith's 2018 Marmotte ride report on how he abandoned after 100km
• Joe Saumarez Smith's 2014 Marmotte ride report in which he did actually finish
• Dan McCausland's 2014 Marmotte ride report
• Sportive.com Marmotte training and information pages
• Timings for gold and silver medals in the Marmotte
• Our recommendations for the best restaurants in Alpe d'Huez