Tour de Force for Gilo Industries CEO

With just 3 weeks to go, Gilo Industries Group CEO and avid cyclist Jim Edmondson is pounding out the miles in preparation for riding the La Marmotte, one of the oldest, most famous cyclosportives in Europe. Several famous Tour de France mountains feature with three climbs over its 174km route and a total of 5,180 metres of climbing it is a massive tour de force.

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 riders 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 is considered by many to be one of the most brutal parts of the event.

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 will be baking in the early afternoon - previous Marmotte events saw riders experience up to 44 degrees centigrade heat on this climb.

“I am massively excited to be taking part in one of cycling’s most famous and gruelling events,” comments Edmondson. “I try to do something for charity every year but decided to really challenge myself this time around. The Macmillan Cancer Support is a great charity and help so many families and I know that money raised will make a difference to people lives. As for the race itself, I’m a keen cyclist so fairly confident of the distance, but slightly nervous about the mountains!”

Jim is cycling the La Marmotte to help raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, please make a sponsorship donation at https://www.justgiving.com/Jim-Edmondson1/