Roc des Alpes - a festival of mountain biking
The French are well-known for their mountain biking – and have been for a long time.
The French are well-known for their mountain biking – and have been for a long time. Think of the names – Nico Voullioz, Julien Absalon, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Anne-Caroline Chausson, Loic Bruni… should I go on? The French know mountain biking, and so visiting a French town for a mountain bike festival would certainly be quite the experience.
Rain, hail or shine – the French love MTB. Or VTT.The Roc des Alpes is a three day mountain bike festival that takes place in La Clusaz, in the Haute Savoie region in the French Alps. It’s one of the most spectacular areas in the Alps, with passes not so high to be desolate, but steep peaks above the towns, and even views to Mt Blanc from some areas.
While it’s been shrouded in cloud – the Haute-Savoie is beautiful and mountainous.The Roc des Alpes is a mountain bike festival that is as accepting as it is challenging. With events that range from a UCI ranked marathon race, to an urban downhill, kids’ races and an E-bike race, there truly is something for everyone.
Arriving in La Clusaz for Roc des Alpes
Having just arrived in France for some extended coverage of bike launches, trails and events – it seemed like we hadn’t arrived in Summer. The alpine areas have been under a deluge, as has much of Western Europe. Rivers are swollen, paddocks are sodden – and fresh snow was falling to about 1800m.
While the sun made brief appearances, a quick thunderstorm before the bigger events on Friday meant the Rallye Roc and the Urban Roc DH were muddy and slippery affairs. The Rallye was an XC focused enduro, with a lift to start before there were 5 timed stages with 31km of riding in total. And the Urban Roc tore a line through town from the road to the Col des Aravis, right into the Place de l’eglise – the centre of town.
Like many European events, a course is constructed just about anywhere.
The Urban Roc tore through town on Friday evening.
Muddy tyres and wet wood kept most riders pretty mellow on added features.
The Roc des Alpes
The Roc des Alpes is actually the name of the main event – the 3 day stage race. It combines the Rallye, The Roc Marathon, plus the half marathon on Sunday.
Many of the main events fell on Saturday, with the UCI marathon, The E-Roc – just for E-bikes, Enduroc with 4 special stages (and 2200m of descent!), a non-competitive ride and even the ‘Roc Gourmande’, which toured many of the farms in the region to taste their specialities!
The marathon is popular, and several hundred riders raced the route around the region. The start was right on the main street.
Imogen Smith signs on at the start.
Go!The mud made for tough going for all races – and it also took a toll on bikes and riders alike. There were many DNFs with mechanicals – although the sun did shine for much of the day, a storm rolled in again in the afternoon. This included contributor Imogen Smith, who lead the women’s marathon until her bike was so jammed with mud her chain jammed, tearing her derailleur off, and ripping her derailleur hanger through the frame.
Day three of the Roc des Alpes
The final day saw the tandems, juniors and 50km marathon take place, along with a 41km all-mountain ride which used lifts to cut the climbing in half, giving you 2330m of descent.
The weather was far better, and Australian Jenni King claimed 2nd place in the half marathon.
A photo posted by Jenni King (@pedallab) on
With more social events on and a full expo in the town at the base of the ski station, it’s a huge draw for riders from around the country, plus from other countries as well.
There’s far more to say on the racing, the festivities, the region and the mountain biking. So watch out for a future issue and our full feature from the Haute Savoie.
Trials motorbikes mark the course, make sure it’s clear of traffic, and do sweep too. These riders are amazing.
No use for the pizza oven as yet…
