Haute Route Pyrenees with twowheeltours

The 2014 Haute Route Pyrenees unveiled twowheeltours is excited to continue our relationship as an Official Tour Operator for the Haute Route Pyrenees. We will be at all three cyclo-sportives in 2014 - Dolomites, Alps and Pyrenees. The new route for 2014 has been revealed with more than 80% of the course introducing new terrain and climbs to the riders compared to 2013. The Departure and Arrival cities for 2014 remain the same as the iconic city of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) will, once again, welcome the 500 amateur riders as the starting point of the 2014 Haute Route Pyrenees, finishing in the beautiful resort of Anglet (Basque Coast, France) along the Atlantic Ocean. The Haute Route Pyrenees will take place from Monday 1st to Sunday 7th September 2014, combining 790km cycling distance and 19,500 meters of vertical ascent, crossing 21 challenging Pyrenean cols and ascents between Spain and France. The route rediscovers the legendary ascents of Tourmalet, Peyresourde, Soulor and Aubisque and introduces new legends, such as, Port de Pailhères, Ax-3-Domaines, Hourquette d’Ancizan and Marie-Blanque. twowheeltours will again offer our high level fully catered packages. There is an11 day package where riders come in to the Barcelona area two days prior to the start and have two days to relax after the race in 5 star luxury in the beautiful Biarritz. We also offer an 8 day package, riders come into the the Barcelona area the day before the race begins and are apart of our fully catered tour during the race. For more information on our package - click here. Between the sea and the ocean, the first and last stage will cross Spanish terrain whilst the other five stages will roll across France. Nine different venues will welcome the Haute Route Pyrenees peloton including five new venue partners for this edition: Ripoll, Font Romeu, Ax-les-Thermes, Luz-St-Sauveur and St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. The 2014 route offers seven different timed stages in the following formats - 5 ‘classic’ stages (averaging 120km with 3 main climbs), a ‘marathon’ stage (148km with 4 cols and 3,900m vertical ascent) and an individual time trial (Col du Tourmalet, from Luz-St-Sauveur). Haute Route Pyrenees 2014 Stage by Stage: • Event Village Sunday 31st August: Barcelona (Spain) • Stage 1 Monday 1st September: Ripoll to Font Romeu (93km, 2500m D+) • Stage 2 Tuesday 2nd September: Font Romeu to Ax-3-Domaines (120km, 3000m D+) • Stage 3 Wednesday 3rd September: Ax-les-Thermes to Bagnères-de-Luchon (160 km, 2700m D+) • Stage 4 Thursday 4th September: Bagnères-de-Luchon to Argelès-Gazost (120km, 3800m D+) • Stage 5 Friday 5th September: Individual Time Trial – Col du Tourmalet (18.5km, 1500m D+) • Stage 6 Saturday 6th September: Argelès-Gazost to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port (148km, 3900m D+) • Stage 7 Sunday 7th September: St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Anglet Basque Coast (124km, 2000m D+) Haute Route Pyrenees 2014 Cols & Ascents: • Stage 1: Merolla 1103m / Creueta 1933m / Font Romeu 1800m • Stage 2: Moulis 1099m / Garabeil 1262m / Port de Pailhères 2001m / Ax-3-Domaines 1380m • Stage 3: Port 1250m / Portet d’Aspet 1069m / Menté 1349m • Stage 4: Peyresourde 1569m / Hourquette d’Ancizan 1564m / Tourmalet 2117m • Stage 5: Tourmalet 2117m • Stage 6: Soulor 1474m / Aubisque 1709m / Marie-Blanque 1035m / Ahusquy 1070m • Stage 7: Ispeguy 672m / Otxondo 570m / Ibardin 317m Haute Route Pyrenees 2014 in numbers: Total distance: 790km Cols & Ascents: 21 Total Ascent: 19,500m Total Descent: 17,700m 5 Classic stages + 1 Marathon stage + 1 Individual Time Trial Highest col: Tourmalet 2117m Marathon stage (stage 6): 148km, 4 cols, 3900m of climbing

twowheeltours and the Haute Route share an exciting three year history and the future looks great for more challenges in 2014 with not two, but three cyclo-sportifs. The race organisers OC Sport, have added a 3rd race for 2014 – Haute Route Dolomites.

The French Alps have been the stable since the first edition in 2011 with an 800+ km timed race from Geneva to Nice. This year, the Haute Route Pyrenees - Barcelona to Biarritz edition was added.

These Haute Route races are billed as the 'highest and toughest cyclo-sportives in the world' and 2014 will test even the most committed road bike rider. twowheeltours will be offering packages, including race entry, for each of these three races and for the serious riders, a discounted package covering all whole three.

Why the Haute Route - after competing in the first Haute Route, I saw the advantages of creating a special eleven day package with luxury accommodation before and after each event. After all, riding for seven straight days over the famous Tour de France stages in the French Alps is not something you attempt without training, commitment and a love of riding.

What better way than to have two days of pre event luxury with the time to 'acclimatise' and get two moderate training rides under your belt plus some needed relaxation after a long journey to the start city. The same thoughts applied at the end of the race, two days in absolute luxury to re-live the highlights with our other riders whilst eating great food and relaxing in five star comfort.

As an official Tour Operator, appointed by the organisers of the Haute Route races, it is exciting to continuing our association. We have put together both eleven day and an eight day packages for the 2014 Haute Route events.  Click here for details.

We at twowheeltours pride ourselves on providing the best experience for our clients and in addition to riding each HR stage spending time with each rider on our tour, my team provides a personalised service to ensure you get to the start each day in the best possible form to ensure success in each stage.

At the end of each stage, we have our staff there to welcome you in and provide you with your day bag, cold drink, some chocolate and chips, a "well done" and information about where you accommodation is and what time is dinner.

Here are some comments from our clients who attended the 2012 and 2013 twowheeltours events:

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It was a great trip and thanks again for everything you did to make things run so smoothly ... The organisation was excellent and everything ran very smoothly ... the trip itself was excellent and I wouldn't do the HR with anyone else.  Joseph (August 2013) - Haute Route Alps 2013

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The trip was beyond my expectation. I'm pretty sure my boys [Shoko was the Team Tauge Team Manager] were satisfied perfectly, they became relaxed and made friends with other tour members...even though there were some language communication problems. When riders saw Joe at the goal or saw Will in the peloton, they really got encouraged and relieved. Thank you for your hospitality, we really appreciate everything you've done for us. Y. Shoko (August 2013) - Haute Route Alps 2013  

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Hello Will - Thank you so much for everything on the tour. It made it a zillion times easier for me. I have low tolerance for things going wrong when I'm tired and hungry and I just know that would have happened without you and Laurie to organise me. I'm so impressed that you can ride all day and then sort us out in the non-riding times. You are completely unflappable! I really enjoyed it.

I don't think I would have finished the HR without being looked after. I would have struggled with messy transfers and disorganisation on top of riding. Thanks you and Laurie for all your care, support and organisation. It really showed. Eleri (September 2013) - Haute Route Pyrenees 2013  Haute Route Pyrenees Blog 2013 

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Thoroughly enjoyed the trip from a riding perspective and ditto from a non-riding viewpoint. We believe the logistics were handled very efficiently and I appreciated the separate transfers between stages that TWT had organised. The support staff were also very good in catering to our needs - especially Gorka. Even the smallest request was attended to - there is no way that I would consider doing the Haute Route without the level of support provided by TWT. We are happy to endorse the HR TWT trips and gladly act as referees for any other interested parties. We both want to do it again!!!!! Detlef -Rider- & Lisa -Non Rider- (September 2013) - Haute Route Pyrenees 2013 

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The service and dedication provided is excellent. I am very satisfied with the service. It is an excellent way of entering the Haute Route. Grant (September 2013) - Haute Route Pyrenees 2013 - This was Grant's second Haute Route with twowheeltours