marmotte - dutch ?

seve65

Just noticed these stats of rider nationalities for the 2003 marmotte. Amazing the number of dutch riders.

Holland 1757

• France 1299
• Belgium 706
• Spain 205
• Denmark 193
• Italy 144
• Switzerland 63
• UK 60
• Germany 30
• Poland 17
• Luxembourg 13
• Andorra 13
• USA 7
• Australia 5
• Ireland 2
• Japan 1
• Norway 1

Diarmuid

I think it has to do with the fact that the Dutch have been so successful on Alpe d'Huez. I think they've claimed it as their own. Plus they and the Belgians are cycling mad.

jiffybag

Yeah , the Dutch has a claim on the Alpe . They turn up to the Marmotte in their 1000's every year . You should see the condition of some of their bikes!!! Awful stuff with Powerbars chunks taped to the top tube. They usually set off like mad men down the valley to the first climb and blow their lights out after 5kms of the up hill stuff.
They are nutters on the decents too , one poor guy lost his life on the Col De Glandon decent in 2006 . The same corner where there was a mass pile up in 2005. I pretty sure going by his name he was also Dutch.

Did the event myself in 2005 , saw some of their decending habits first hand on the Glandon , shocking stuff. Two Dutch lads in front of me ran straight off the road into somebody vegtable garden near the bottom of the decent.

Captain Havoc

Unbelievable for such a flat country. Maybe some of the craziness comes from not cycling on hill regularly?

niceonetom

Dutch is language you hear the most of as you go round the course, both from other riders and from families shouting encouragement on the hairpins of the last climb. I'm sure some of them are actually Flanders but if you can tell the difference while chewing the handlebars, fair play.

There are some very capable Dutch riders who do it too though - Bert Dekker has won it a bunch of times. I think training along the dikes into brutal headwinds makes some great climbers.

I did most of the descent off the Galibier chasing a Dutch guy who was a really excellent descender (he gapped me on every bend but I could usually get back to him before the next one) and on the lower, more open and less technical, parts of the descents where you have to keep pedalling having the opportunity to tuck in behind a big guy in orange is very welcome.