Sportives & Spring Training Camps
Ways to turbo boost your training for Le Loop
Most Loopers will punctuate their training with some sportives and for those who can afford it, an early trip to warmer climes for climbs!! Setting milestones like these are a great way to keep you motivated, boost your fitness, and reassure you that you’re on track.
So, we thought it would be a great idea to pool recommendations from our Alumni and Le Loop team into this blog to help inspire you. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good place to start!
Most of these take place from March onwards (Audax being one notable exception). We strongly recommend making the last May bank holiday weekend (those of you in the UK) a solid 3-day back-to-back riding weekend if you possibly can, even if you can’t find a sportive that works for you. It’ll give your fitness a perfectly timed boost (if you’re riding in the first half of the tour), but possibly even more importantly, it’ll give you confidence. There’s probably not a single Looper who arrives on tour without some stomach-churning nerves. That’s ok – it’s normal! But if you know you’ve put the hard work in AND tested yourselves over long distances, you won’t feel half as bad.
So read on and see if you can fit any of these into your training plan! Use the Strava group to see if any other Loopers are riding who you can team up with.
Sunny Training Camps
We’ve been friends with SunVelo for several years and lots of our Loopers have travelled with them to get some early sunshine riding in Mallorca, sometimes tying this in with riding the Mallorca 312 (see Sportives, below).
SunVelo really like what we do, so they have offered to make a donation of £100 towards your fundraising if you book one of their spring or 312 breaks. Find out more here.
Sportives
- Kentish Killer for the early birds on 1 March 2026. 100km and over 1,800m climbing.
- If you’re ready for it, try one of the Spring Classics in Netherlands and Belgium. Amstel Gold on 18th April and Tour of Flanders on 4th April are both good options.
- Mallorca 312. Not everyone can afford a jaunt to Mallorca on top of a summer Le Loop tour, but for those who can, it’s a great way to put in big miles (312km, obvs) in the sunshine (sometimes a bit too much sunshine for winter-white British bodies!). If you haven’t signed up yet, you can only join the waiting list – UNLESS you talk to our friends over at SunVelo, who have a few places still as part of their 312 packages and are offering Loopers a special deal! Find out more in this blog.
- The Tour de Manc is a brilliant sportive on Sunday 3rd May 2026. It has 60km, 100km, 165km and 201km routes so a perfect option for all Loopers, no matter what the training goal. It’s also worth noting that the event has links Manchester Youth Zone, a previous grant recipient charity in Manchester.
- Somerset Cycle on 9th May 2026. Special mention – this is run by the WWMT-supported Youth Adventure Trust as a fundraiser – so you not only get the chance to ride 105km – you also learn more about the work of this brilliant charity and how your fundraising impacts young lives for the better!
- The Great Escape – by XO Bikes 8 May 2026 from prison to prison in Surrey (60/120km). This deserves another special mention. It’s a cycling event run as a fundraiser for XO Bikes, who are one of the projects supported by WWMT (helping get ex-offenders into work as bike mechanics)! It’s a great way to get a good ride, and more importantly, to learn a lot more about the project itself. A winning combo!
- Fred Whitton Challenge 10 May 2026. A classic, known for its crippling Hardknott Pass climb and 30% gradients! They sell out almost immediately but run a reserve list. But there’s nothing stopping you riding the fantastic route independently on another day!
- Tour of the Peak 17 May 2026. 3,500m climbing over 182km.
- Audax UK. In their own words “Audax can be a strange blend of the Tour de France and the Women’s Institute’ (thanks to the cake and tea-driven check points!). They’re a much less informal event that is more about covering distance, than speed. Plenty of 100/200km options, but you can also go large … very large! Audax calendar here.
- For the Southerners, there’s the Hampshire hilly Hundred 102 miles, 1828m climbing, or the Little Lumpy (125 miles for the ‘Epic’ route) – both on 17 May 2026.
- Dartmoor Classic 21 June 2026, just before Le Loop begins (last ride perhaps for those joining us in Barcelona, but even better placed for anyone joining us later on tour).
- For those of you down under, the Peaks Challenge has been highly recommended to us. 8 March 2026. “Equivalent to a mountain stage of the Tour de France, it’s a 235km ride with 4000+ metres of climbing and a 13-hour deadline.” Sounds like a blast!
Bon Courage!!
