Last week we already reported that La Marmotte is restoring the "old" route over the Croix de Fèr. Organizer Cycling Classics France has now also presented the route on their website. And suddenly the Col du Mollard turned up. But that appears to be based on a misunderstanding. And there is more news to report.

No Col du Mollard

On the roadmap of the organization it seemed as if there was no descent to Saint Jean de Maurienne, but instead the Col du Mollard would be ridden from the south side. The participants would then have to climb another 6 kilometers / 400 meters. See the profile:

Profile: Cyclingcols (edited)

But now it appears that this is an mistake. The Marmotte 2021 will descend the Croix de Fèr to Sainte Jean de Maurienne. Exactly the same route as the route of 2004 and before.

Routes

This means that the number of "standard routes" in the history of La Marmotte remains at 3, if we include the exceptional year 2015. Then the Marmotte went over the Lascets du Montvernier because the Tunnel du Chambon had partly collapsed. The picture below provides an insight. In 2021, of course the Ultrafondo will be added, which we'll discuss later on.

Limits adjusted

We asked the organization about the limits, now that we are descending over the Croix de Fèr again. The organization tells us that they are indeed going to make adjustments. More information will follow via the website of Cycling Classics France. 

Ultrafondo is sportive, could be here to stay

We already wrote about the birth of the Marmotte Ultrafondo: the standard route, completed with the descent of the Sarenne and a 2nd climb of the Alpe. For 2021 there are only 500 places available for this, CycloWorld expects these to be sold out within a few minutes. This distance will in principle be organized once because of the 40th anniversary of La Marmotte. However, CycloWorld has two firsts:

• The ultrafondo is a sportive, or a "rando" as the organizers say. That means there's no time registration, no ranking and no award ceremony. We will therefore include the ultrafondo as such in our database.
• If this course becomes a success, the organization will strongly consider making it a permanent part of the event.

Traffic situation

We also asked the organizers about the traffic situation. In recent years the course has been largely car free. There is no news yet about the 2021 situation. 

All in all: many innovations at La Marmotte. We'll keep a close eye.