The 7-day 2019 Haute Route Alps gran fondo is done and dusted. From the start in Megeve, France to the finish in Nice Ruari Grant dominated the event to earn his third Haute Route title of 2019, after winning the Dolomites and Alp d’Huez.
Although he made it look easy, it was anything but. Every day Grant and 400 riders battled up, over and down legendary cols like Alp d’Huez, Tourmalet, Izoard, Glandon, Madeleine and many more.
Grant won by 2 minutes 37 seconds over ex-pro Guillaume Bourgeois, with Damien Jeanjean climbing onto the final podium step with a strong performance on the very last stage.
Canadian Linda Farczadi won the women’s competition by more than 50 minutes, with Catherine Greves in second and Ciarnuto Valeria in third.
For 60 riders, Haute Route Alps marked the end of an epic two-week Haute Route Grand Tour: riding Haute Route Pyrenees and Haute Route Alps back-to-back while competing for the title of “Double Crown Champion.”
After 1600 kilometres with more than 40,000 metres of climbing, John Thomas won the Men’s “Double Crown” competition with a combined time of 42 hours, 50 minutes, and 12 seconds. Wynnie Fung won the Women’s competition in 55 hours, 11 minutes, and 29 seconds.
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