Hopkins proudly sponsored 2 of our staff, Nick Jones and Mick Quinlan, in their quest to conquer the 2016 La Marmotte cycling race in the French Alps which took place the last weekend of June.
With the help of our supply chain and subcontractors, money was raised in support of treatment for a local little girl, Gracie. For further details and support please visit Groovy Gracie.
La Marmotte features three HC climbs over its 174km route and has a total of 5,180 metres of climbing, making it one of the toughest courses of any sportive in the world.
La Marmotte starts with a climbs 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 Telegraph.
That leads to the Col du Galibier, one of the most famous climbs in worldwide cycling. The Telegraph/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 is usually baking in the early afternoon.
The guys did amazing to complete the race, with Nick finishing in 8hrs 27mins (Gold Time 8hrs 24mins….!) and Mick for completing the race for the 6th year in a row, in 10hrs 04mins. They would like to thank everyone that helped encourage and support them through their journey.
