Problems for La Marmotte?...

toolonglegs

I have been talking with a few guys on my club rides and the general consensus was that there was going to be a lot of problems at the Marmotte next year.Apparently the locals are very unhappy with the organisers for various reasons..mainly the lack of care for the enviroment and also partly because it is aimed very heavily at the Dutch to the detriment of everyone else.
So they have been advertising that there would be alot of cars on the route driving rather slowly and also tacks will be all over the road.
Has anyone heard anything about this?....I am not a local but only live 100km from Alpe D'heuz...but as my French isn't that great yet I couldn't understand every thing.

knedlicky

toolonglegs wrote:

Has anyone heard anything about this?....

Immediately after this Summer’s La Marmotte, the mayor of Saint-Martin-d'Arc had things to say about the amount of refuse produced along the route, and the costs the local communities then had to pay to collect it up. He mainly meant wrappings from power bars and so on. St. Etienne de Cuines, at the bottom of the Glandon, was particularly cited as looking scruffy after the riders had passed through. The amount of refuse created by riders on some passes outside the feeding zones was also commented upon.

There was other dissatisfaction with riders’ behaviour expressed too. This included negative comments about some cyclists, who, apparently feeling they had the right of the road on that day, not only insulted car drivers but in some cases even kicked out at cars, denting doors. Problems of this nature were mainly mentioned as happening at the top of the Galibier.
That many groups of riders rode 4-5 wide, when the law only allows two wide, and that on descents, despite oncoming traffic, many individual riders used the whole road, like the professionals in the Tour, was also not liked.

Apparently all the local mayors were going to join together and write a letter of complaint to the Isere departement prefecture about the Marmotte organisation’s ability to control safety and rider behaviour, asking either that the event be cancelled or that it be held on closed roads and the organisation pay for this expense and the subsequent clean-up work (which of course would impact on the entry fee).

pinkbikini

It would be a real shame if this event was cancelled, as it is a great ride. I rode it this year and didn't see any cyclist/car incidents - I'm sure most people know to avoid the area if at all possible anyway.

Unfortunately I did see a large amout of litter being dropped by riders. Unbelievable really - at all the UK sportives I've taken part in (and one other in Italy) there has been a lot of emphasis on the eco and social impact of littering, and behaviour has been very good. At La Marmotte the general rule seemed to be "finished with your energy bar? Just drop the wrapper in the middle of the road". Most of the littering I saw was not by Brits (hurrah! for once we were the best behaved abroad!!!)

toolonglegs

Thanks for that,makes sense now.Pretty much what I thought I had heard...maybee I will do it with a couple of mates on another day...have to have a think about it.

vermooten

I nearly got into a fight with some bloke who was dropping post-descent newspaper on the road. "Are you going to pick that up?" "No, you do it!" "Fcking c*cksucker!!" etc etc

Too much testosterone. Can't blame the locals for being pissed off, the organisers should have more people on litter-monitoring duty.

Michuel

But it's a big boost to the local economy which would be almost dead without 5000 bike riders - shops, lodgings etc. On the other hand a lot stay in Alpe d'Huez who are a different community to Bourg.

People who are living there in holiday homes don't get any advantage from Marmotte.

As it's difficult to change behaviour of bike riders maybe mayors want increased cash contribution from sportcommunication to clean up mess. That means increased entry fee.

daowned

It always amazes me that these sportives at home and abroad complian about litter. I mean what extra would it cost to pay a few squads to go round and pick it up or even some volenteers to do it.

Dont get me wrong I am not approving of the litter I think its shamefull to willingly throw empty gels on the road side and not put them in the back pocket. There is also the saftey issue as well if someone brakes on them.

These communites make £££ out of these events and should be taxed for the clean up surely it wont cost much.

Le Commentateur

Litter.. hmmm:

At the Maratona Dles Dolomites they have this team of guys who do an amazing clean-up job, as well as trying to promote awareness of the problem (and document trouble-spots around the courses of various cycling events, for future improvements).



After the 2007 edition I drove dow to a town lower down the valley for dinner and was dismayed that, for part of the journey that was on the route of the bike ride, the verges were absolutely covered in hundreds of energy bar and gel wrappers.

However just a couple of hours later, after a very tasty meal, going back the opposite way the whole lot had been completely cleaned up by the volunteers and you would never have known that 1000s of cyclists had been on the road that day.

Le Commentateur

The Marmotte's revenge:



What goes around... comes around.

Croxted Avenger

I'm not suprised. I've done the Marmotte twice (04 and 05) and would concur with the locals. The organisation is pitiful. The start and ends are quite well organised but the bit in the middle ie the important bit needs work.

Its just too big to be run on open roads for a start, the Glandon descent in particular needs to be closed (1 Dutch rider killed here in 05 and two more will be wheelchair bound for life). I have to say our brethren from the low countries go a bit mad when faced with a 10km decent and some of the riding styles beggared belief. In 05 there was a marked increase in traffic (most of it with Dutch plates) over 04 - I'm guessing this is still a feature...?

In economic terms the locals have a beef with the Dutch too - much of these guys arrive with their families in motor homes fully stocked with food, water, beer etc and don't spend much money on the Alpe.

When you do a sportive like the Quebrantahuesos you realise just how bad La Marmotte is in organisational terms. The course is epic and its rightly considered the daddy of mountain sportives but until they get the safety sorted I'll be staying away. Its a shame to hear the locals complain but I can see their point tbh.

knedlicky

Croxted Avenger wrote:

the Glandon descent ...1 Dutch rider killed here in 05 and two more will be wheelchair bound for life.

The mayor of Saint-Martin-d'Arc referred to this incident in what he had to say, saying that the organisers had thereafter promised to tighten up on safety and promoting safety awareness amongst participants, but he felt the organisers hadn't kept their word.

Le Commentateur

One memory I have of the descent of the Glandon in 05 is the numbers of cars on the descent that were lined up after blind corners waiting to drive up the road. That village halfway down the descent is effectively cut of for a few hours and either drivers were unaware of the event, misjudged the time of it or just didn't care. It's not really their fault though, as the reason they couldn't continue up the road was the numbers of reckless riders descending who used the full width of the road for cornering -- I reckon it's only a matter of time before some idiot cuts a left-hander and goes head-on into one of these lines of traffic.

The people on the north side of the Glandon & Galibier get nothing from the event itself, except perhaps a certain number of cyclo-tourist visits to cafes in the days before. But the course runs through about 3 different local authority territories, each deriving differing amounts of benefit from the event, so getting them all to co-operate in an alliance against the organisers might be tricky.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I was shocked by the cavalier attitude of riders to litter on the Marmotte this year. Some stretches were just covered with gel wrappers. One point on the Telegrahpe was covered in discarded water bottles and there were loads of 'em. In places it was an embarassment so I can see exactly where the locals are coming from.

The organisers need to come up with a solution as it is their event and their responsibility. I've not done any other continental sportive but I hear a lot about the French ones and the Marmotte in particular being slipshod compared to Italy and Spain.