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Etape du Tour 2016 profile.JPGCelebrities to tackle L'Etape du Tour for British reality TV show
The Tour de France looks set to get the reality TV treatment, with former England rugby and cricket stars, an OIympic champion and cast members from rating-leading reality shows likely to ride L’Etape du Tour this summer for a Channel 5 series.
Called Tour de Celeb, the six-part series will air on Saturday evenings on this summer, reports The Sun, with participants including ex-rugby player Austin Healey, cricketer Darren Gough, Olympic gold medallist in the skeleton Amy Williams and model Jodie Kidd among those taking part.
They are reportedly being coached by two-time Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton, herself no stranger to reality TV having taken part in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing following her retirement from cycling after the 2012 London OIympics.
While some might question whether as a former track cyclist she’s the best qualified person to coach relatively inexperienced riders to tackle Alpine climbs, more recently, Pendleton also proved her ability to take on a challenge outside her comfort zone.
Last month, the 35-year-old finished fifth in the Foxhunters’ Chase over the Gold Cup course at horse racing’s Cheltenham Festival.
> Victoria Pendleton takes fifth place on Cheltenham debut
According to reports in The Sun and other media outlets, the series will involve the celebrities tackling a cycling challenge in the Pyrenees.
While it’s entirely possible they will be training there, road.cc can reveal that their ultimate destination is more likely to be the Alps, where L’Etape du Tour takes place on Sunday 10 July.
Covering 146 kilometres, it follows the route of Stage 20 of this summer’s Tour de France from Megève to Morzine.
It includes four tough ascents – the Col des Aravis, the Col de la Colombiere, the Col de la Ramaz and last but certainly not least the Col de la Joux Plane before the descent to the finish, with 3,335 metres of climbing in all.
Last week, a video of the route of this year’s Etape du Tour was uploaded to Vimeo under the name Tour de Celeb by Stephen Lovelock – also the name of the series producer of last year’s sports reality ITV series, Eternal Glory.
Also involved in that production was a company called Wildfire Creation, which confirms on its website that it is “now working with STV to make Tour de Celeb for Channel 5.”
Wildfire Creation’s David Sutton, who was series director of Eternal Glory, has posted brief details of his involvement in Tour de Celeb to the website The Talent Manager, where people involved in the creative industries showcase their work.
He is working as series director from 16 February to 16 July, and that it will see “eight celebrities train for and then ride a stage of the Tour de France.”
Those last few words, together with the route video uploaded to Vimeo, appear to confirm that it is L’Etape du Tour which the celebrities are training for.
Hopefully the producers will have seen last week's news that the French cycling federation has banned disc brakes from events falling under its rules, including L'Etape du Tour - although the thought of eight celebs arriving at the start line of an event they have spent months training for only to be told they can't take part would admittedly make for some compelling TV.
> Disc brakes banned from French sportives including L'Etape du Tour
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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26 comments
Brushed past Angelica Bell yesterday near box hill, if box hill is the only hill they are using for training they are going to have a very hard ride in front of them.
Amy Williams in lycra, on a bike, where's that remote!?
We have the Tour de France. There is no need for a celebrity version.
All comments asside above - I will be intersted in watching this for the simple reason that this is the route for the Etape du Tour this year which I will be riding so I will like to see what the climbs are actually like.
The Vimeo link doesn't work.
Another mindles reality show with a z list population. Just because it's about cycling doesn't make it any better than the others.
Came off the Ramaz in September going top speed round a left-hander. Was in my "usual" position about one metre off the centre line. Noticed a rather large truck buzzing towards me. Quick calculation (0.4s?) told me 1) braking wasn't an option 2) running wide wasn't an option due to handily-placed wall/ guardrail so 3) HOLD THE LINE was the preferred option. I passed the cab fairly close and the pressure wave passing the back of the truck was nothing like I'd felt before. So, celebs, GOOD LUCK!
Not a great fan of 'reality' shows but this seems potentially helpful in promoting a more positive image of cycling/cyclists among the non-cycling majority. Might even inspire a few. Every little helps.
That's fair enough.
But the idea of the show does kinda remind me of Alan Partridge shouting "monkey tennis!" at a commisioning editor when all his other ideas for programes had been rejected.
Yeah but on the other hand it reinforces (to the general public) the stereotype that cycling is an event-based pastime where you have to train and suffer for "an event".
Not a day-to-day mode of transportation but something that you have to buy into, buy the kit and the bike and wear lycra and look funny.
I see your argument - there's something similar about the Olympics - very popular as a spectator thing but the evidence it inspires people to take up sport is very limited (despite that argument often being used to justify huge amounts of public funding).
But this isn't publicly-funded, I think the downside risks are small, and it isn't crowding out other things. And the sport and leisure side of cycling is a way into utility cycling for many in the UK, yours truly included.
Give me strength...
Protien shakes help. Maybe up your iron intake too.
Didn't think you would take it literally, autism-boy.
Firstly - that went right over your head which made it even funnier, cheers for that. Secondly - don't make fun of autism.
Jesus Simon. The subtle little anti Pendleton sub current still running a little strong I see.
I can't imagine a male track rider's abilities to teach and ride on the road being questioned. Ok. So she was once a bit weepy and whingy in a documentary because that bastian of feminism Shane Sutton had disapproved of her boyfriend... Give the girl a break.
I suspect Armitstead might get the same treatment when she retires and tries to earn a crust on TV. After all what does the silly girl know about road cycling either..? Having been on a ride or two with a woman pro rider I bet Pendleton would operate well within her 'comfort zone' to wipe the floor over a sportive distance with any of the Road.CC team.
Two Olympic gold medallists and an equally steely Jodie Kidd beating a paunchy old cricketer up a hill - him probably playing all the old injury cards of back pain and tendon damage -sounds like top viewing to me!
"paunchy cricketer" and you complain about stereotypes
, Goughy is no stranger to the bike saddle, as has been said he did the 300mile ride in 4 days for the Lord Taverners, and looks to be consistently racking up the mileage & climbing this year, hes on Strava so he must be a serious cyclist 
Austin Healy again has done Ride London and I think the Dragon Ride too, like a number of their generation of sportsmen with knacked knees they actually find cycling a good outlet for their inate competitiveness,so Id fully expect an ex footballer to join this eventual line up for similar reasons.
so if anything theyve largely picked, so far, a group who shouldnt need alot of coaching to handle a bike
Granted. I'm a bit cynical as I've had a half century (see what I did there?) of the BBC reporting cricketers strains and niggles and then turning on the match on TV to see tubby blokes rubbing their balls and diving with all the grace of a tipped wardrobe for a ball already 10 foot beyond them. Then the questions about why England doesn't have the 'form and pace' of other teams...Zzzz.
I'm sure professional cricketers are training properly these days but I remember an hilarious documentary 20 years back where they took some England cricketers for triathlon training at Club La Santa. They weren't happy when they found out the cycle ride wasn't going to be 5 miles followed by a pie and pint.
well part of this is I hate celeb reality shows with a passion. I believe they are fixed and they just play to the lowest common denominator. Was not ware of what they did but as I have only heard of Gough not surprising.
But heck as long as it gets to the 'masses' it must be worthwhile ?
Thats how so many sports have sold themselves out, see Cricket with the awful T20, yes it fills out grounds but is like chinese food, ok whilst there, afterwards meaningless.
Perhaps cricket isn't the best example sport to choose to illustrate your point when you have admitted to not knowing who Darren Gough is!
I said I know who Gough is ! one of the best bowlers of my generation never forget his Ashes Hat trick, in Sydney ?
See what worries me is when you want to spread the base you dilute it. This will have no impact on those that need to be influenced - the car lobby in cities. This kind of thinking says that L-B-L is too long for example so it does not attract the masses ...
Oops, so you did, apologies.
You can't call The Jump a fixed show. It turned out to be an uncontrollable (ski) crash of a series, resulting in some nasty accidents and running out of competitors towards the end.
Swapping snow cushioned slops for tarmac, hairpin bends and fast decents could be quite bloody. I bet they even use bikes with disc brakes for added danger!
oh great Z list celebs now taking over cycling. Some may welcome this, but I have been in serious training for 6 months for my event and seen Gough recently ??
when you get reality shows you know a sport has jumped the shark
(and no I am not being snobby)
Given that Darren Gough rode a bike 300 miles between the Ashes venues last summer to raise more than £200,000 for charity, that's open to debate.
And Jodie Kidd's just done a 465 kilometres bike ride in Burma for Help for Heroes, in temperatures beyond 50 degrees Celsius.
Anything that raises the profile of cycling has to be good, no?
And one side-effect of this series could be that your non-cycling acquaintances and colleagues will get an insight into just how tough the challenge you are undertaking is?
Yes you are being snobby and anyone can do the Etape if they do a bit of training. How is yours more 'serious' than theirs?
I'm looking forward to seeing Amy Williams in lycra (again).
(and yes I am being a pervert)