Etape du Tour

mabry said:

Any advice on finding entries in the US for this race? Not interested in tour package, just entry.

You'll be pretty much out of luck. It's very, very, very hard for anyone outside France to get an entry without going through one of the official tour companies offering a package. French residents (and Belgians and Swiss) have to buy a copy of Velo Magazine on the last wednesday of January, fill in the form, then wait to see if their name is pulled out of the hat.

Foreign residents (outside France/Belgium/Switzerland) are allocated 2,500 places, but ONLY through agreed tour organisers.

The only way round that (unofficially), is to find someone in France who'll apply in your name, using a French address. Without seeing the entry form and seeing if you have to prove your address I don't know if it's possible, but I could try if you like - pm me.

More details (in French) at: http://www.letapedutour.com/2007/ETDT/presentation/fr/inscriptions.htm

Oh, it's not a race, by the way. Not officially at least. It's a cyclo-sportive, which isn't the same thing, although for the top few riders it may as well be. There'll be around 7,000 starters, so it'd be a hell of a bunch sprint!

Worth also looking at the new Etape du Legende - they take a classic Tour stage from history and recreate the route. This year's is the first one (in September), and will be from Strasbourg to Ballon D'Alsace in the Vosges, recreating a crucial stage from 1967. Still a hard ride, but not as hard as the Etape route.

I found out that High Gear Travel has entries available (without a package requirement). www.highgeartravel.com (had to email them).

thx.

mabry said:

I found out that High Gear Travel has entries available (without a package requirement). www.highgeartravel.com (had to email them).

thx.

Similar experience with Custom Getaways. They don't have them listed on their web-site but have sold a few entries: [email hidden]
Nice event but hard to get into