How to train for L’Etape du Tour: The Complete Guide for Amateur Cyclists

So you’ve entered L’Etape du Tour….

“It’s only one stage of Le Tour De France, how hard can it be? The pros do this day in, day out for three weeks – one stage can’t be too hard…right?”

You’d be forgiven for thinking that, but L’Etape can be one of the most difficult sportives in the world, depending on the route (which changes yearly). It can be long, mountainous, technical, and hot – and it requires serious training to give yourself the best chance of rolling across the finish line without swearing off cycling for another year. This guide will help amateur cyclists train for L’Etape while balancing work and life commitments.

Understand the demands of the event

This goes for any endurance event, but it’s especially important for L’Etape due to the route changing every year. In 2026, for example, the route features four huge climbs, with 5,400m elevation gain over 170km.

As soon as you’ve entered (ideally before), check exactly how much climbing the route has, over what distance, and the length and gradient of key climbs. You can work backwards from the demands of the route to work out the specific type of training you need to do. Short, sharp climbs, for example, probably won’t do if the route has you taking on multiple 1+ hour climbs, even if the total elevation is the same.

You should also check cut-off times to check your current fitness against completing the event. If you’re worried you might be close to cut-off, that’s your sign to start training earlier or get the help of a coach.

How Far Out Should You Start Training?

This all depends on a very honest assessment of your current fitness and the type of riding you usually do. As a rule, six months is ideal if you already have a reasonable base level of fitness and are doing long weekend rides without too much lasting fatigue. This gives you enough time to properly periodise your training and to work on your weaknesses with adequate recovery time. If you’re newer to cycling or your current training volume is low, you may want to allow 9-12 months to build slowly while minimising injury risk, while you can get away with less training time if you’re already cycling 3+ times per week with at least one long ride.

Once you’ve decided when to start, you’ll want to periodise your training. Generally this means doing less race-specific training in the early phases with the idea of building a solid base, and gradually getting closer to race intensity and duration as you get closer to the event. A good coach will do this for you, and check you’re heading in the right direction with regular testing.

The Three Things Most Riders Get Wrong

Riding your usual routes

I’m sure you get it by now, but L’Etape isn’t just hilly, it’s mountainous. That means your training rides, especially as you get closer to the event, will need to take in as many climbs as possible. It’s true that fitness is fitness, and making gains made on flat roads in FTP and endurance will benefit you when climbing, but it’s also true that climbing activates your muscles in a different way.

As much as possible, incorporate long climbs into your routes – even repeat some climbs if you don’t have access to many. If you have the opportunity before your event, going somewhere with big climbs (like Mallorca, Girona, etc) will really help you train the specific muscle fibres that you’ll be relying on later.

If you really don’t have access to climbs, you can mimic them by performing high-torque big gear intervals in your training. Try dropping your cadence down to 50-65 rpm for 10-20 minutes at a time to help build strength endurance that can power you through 1+ hr climbs.

Ignoring race-pace fuelling

Old school cyclists might think “eating is cheating”, but in modern cycling the importance of fuelling properly cannot be understated. As you get closer to your event, you should be practicing your fuelling strategy on every long ride – consuming the same fuel, in the same quantity and at the same intensity as you plan on doing during the race.

Many cyclists make the mistake of only practicing their fuelling during easy rides, and then find out on race day that taking a gel while riding just under threshold up a 1 hr climb is not the same as taking a gel while freewheeling on a flat road. At the very least, get some practice taking on fuel while riding above your comfortable effort level.

Skipping the taper

If you’re training for your first Etape, you might think that the week before your race should be mostly rest, perhaps with some easy riding.

That approach could leave you feeling heavy and weak on race day.

A well executed taper balances recovery with intensity – allowing you to absorb all of your training while keeping your legs sharp and ready to go. Many athletes are surprised when they’re given intense intervals in race week, but a good coach will be closely tracking your fitness and freshness to make sure you land right in the sweet spot.

What a Training Week Actually Looks Like

Asking what a ‘normal’ training week looks like is one of those ‘how long is a piece of string’ questions – it all depends on your current fitness, your goals, and how far out from L’Etape you are. With that said, there’s some things that apply to almost every athlete I coach:

A long ride

Essential for every athlete training for L’Etape is at least one long ride per week. ‘Long’ is relative to the rest of your riding, but would typically start around 2.5 hours and work up towards 6 hours depending on your expected finish time for L’Etape. This is non-negotiable if you want to build the endurance to finish strong.

Structured interval sessions

Typically once or twice a week, these sessions take athletes above their ‘easy endurance’ effort and focus on raising their threshold, lactate clearance, and efficiency. Sessions like VO2 max intervals, over/unders, and threshold efforts are normally performed on an indoor trainer for time crunched athletes, but can also be done outside.

Recovery is baked in

Recovery should never be an afterthought when designing a training plan. When you finish a workout, your fitness technically goes down until you give your body time to recover and absorb the training. All of my athletes have complete or active rest days factored into their plans, and training load is closely monitored to prevent injuries and extended time off.

Training around your life

As a coach, one of the biggest challenges is often holding athletes back from doing too much. Aiming for 15 hour training weeks is fine, but life can very quickly get in the way and powering through regardless is a surefire way to burn out fast. At the start of each week, ask yourself what commitments you have and be honest about how much you can actually train, then adapt accordingly.

One athlete I coached specifically for L'Étape increased their FTP by 19% over the course of their training block and reported feeling stronger on the climbs than they'd ever expected. That kind of gain doesn't happen by accident; it comes from structured, progressive training built around their life.

If you're entered for Étape du Tour and want a training plan built specifically around your life — not a generic 12-week PDF — I'd love to hear from you. I have availability for athletes targeting summer 2026 events. Get in touch here.