Foundation Trip · French Alps
Lake Annecy cycling holiday: discover riding in the Alps
A coached road cycling holiday on Lake Annecy, built for riders who’ve always wanted to ride in the mountains but weren’t sure where to start.
13-20 September 2026
Dates
Lake Annecy, French Alps
Location
6 riding days
Single hotel base
2 ability pods
Max 14 riders
42-85km daily
1,100-2,350m
£1800
Foundation Trip · French Alps
Lake Annecy cycling holiday: your first week in the Alps, fully coached
13-20 September 2026
Dates
Lake Annecy, French Alps
Location
6 riding days
Single hotel base
2 ability pods
Max 14 riders
42-85km daily
1,100-2,350m
£1800
A coached road cycling holiday on Lake Annecy, built for riders who’ve always wanted to ride in the mountains but weren’t sure where to start. Six days, two pods, one lakeside base. Nobody gets dropped.
28 years
coaching experience
12,000+
five-star reviews
0 riders
ever dropped
Discover what riding in the Alps is really like
There is something special about riding your first proper Alpine climb. The road rises ahead of you, the views expand, and you feel that growing sense that you can really ride all the way to the top.
Over six days, we’ll gradually introduce longer climbs, bigger descents, and more challenging days. You’ll learn to pace yourself, pick the right gear, fuel properly, and descend confidently. All while riding on the beautiful roads around Lake Annecy.
With two groups and experienced coaches, you’ll have flexible routes all week. This lets you find your own pace and discover your capabilities. By the end of the week, we want you to feel that the Alps are a place you know you can ride and somewhere you can’t wait to explore further.
This week is designed to help you enjoy the experience, not just survive it.
Is this cycling holiday right for you?
This is a Foundation trip – the place most riders should start before anything harder.
You should come if
- You’ve always fancied riding in the Alps, but the wall of climbing on most trips put you off.
- You’re comfortable riding for around four hours at a steady pace, and can do that on consecutive days.
- You’d like to learn how to pace longer climbs rather than simply trying to hang on.
- You’d like to feel more confident descending unfamiliar mountain roads.
- You want to understand more about pacing, fuelling and group riding while enjoying a proper week in the Alps.
This probably isn’t for you if
- You’ve got a lot of experience tackling big Alpine days. Now, you want a tougher week with much more climbing. Our Alps Expedition Trip will probably suit you better.
- You want a high-intensity training camp that focuses on distance, speed, and climbing numbers over the week’s experience.
- You’re not yet comfortable riding for around four hours on consecutive days.
What you’ll take home.
By the end of the week, we want the Alps to feel exciting rather than intimidating. You’ll gain better skills, make smarter decisions, and understand how to manage yourself in the mountains. That’s the kind of confidence we want you to take home.
Pace a long climb without going into the red
Learn what a sustainable climbing effort feels like. Discover how to choose the right gear and cadence. Understand how to manage that effort across multiple climbs.
Descend with control.
Work on your body position, braking, and line choice on real Alpine descents. Build your skills progressively throughout the week. As your technique and decision-making improve, you’ll feel more relaxed and in control. You’ll likely find yourself descending more smoothly and faster, too.
Ride safely and efficiently in a group.
Learn how to draft safely, communicate clearly and work together, saving energy while making the riding more enjoyable.
Fuel properly for a big day in the mountains.
Develop a fuelling routine that works, so you can keep eating and drinking consistently and still have energy left towards the end of the ride.
Put it all together across a full week.
Manage your effort daily. Recover well and adjust if your legs aren’t feeling right.
A new perspective on riding.
By Friday, the biggest change may simply be how you look at the mountains. The climbs haven’t become any smaller. You’ll just know much more about how to ride them.
Two coached groups, so you can ride the mountains at your own pace
On a long Alpine climb, everyone finds their own rhythm. You shouldn’t feel pressured to ride hard or worry about keeping up. You won’t feel like others are waiting for you.
We ride in two coached groups based on fitness, pace, confidence, and how everyone feels that day. Each group has its own coach, and you can switch if you don’t feel right after the first day.
On the climbs, focus on a pace you can sustain. Don’t just follow the rider in front. We regroup at the top and at key junctions, allowing time to fuel, enjoy the view, and prepare for what’s next.
The two groups might ride different distances or routes, but it’s still one shared week. We all meet at coffee stops, back at the hotel, and around the dinner table.
How each day works
The coaching is practical and built into each ride. As the week goes on, we share new ideas when they’re helpful. You’ll have time to try them out. This way, you can build up to riding longer Alpine days with more confidence.
01
Plan
We discuss the next day’s ride the night before. We cover the route, climbs, and descents. We also mention where we’ll stop and what to expect. A quick check the following morning to see how everyone is feeling, then we roll.
02
Ride
Most of the coaching happens naturally on the road. On the climbs, we work on pacing, gearing and cadence. Before and during descents, we help with line choice, braking and body position. On easier roads, there’s time to work on group riding, fuelling or simply enjoy riding together.
03
Review
Back at the hotel, there’s an informal chat about how the day went. What worked, what felt difficult and what might be useful to try tomorrow. Small changes across six days can make a surprisingly big difference.
Day-by-day itinerary: 6 days riding Lake Annecy
Every ride starts and finishes in Talloires – no hotel changes all week. Two pods (A and B) ride different lengths off the same route, with vehicle support daily and clear bailout points on the bigger days.
Day 1 (Sun)
Lake Annecy loop · group calibration
The full lake cycle-path loop. A relaxed opening ride where we read everyone’s pacing, cadence, bike fit and group riding, and settle the pods for the week. Easily extended for stronger legs
Pod A
42km/250m
Pod B
42km/250m
Day 2 (Mon)
Col de la Forclaz
Your first proper Alpine climbing day. The focus is cadence selection, pacing a longer climb and learning what that effort feels like – plus your first big descent, coached.
Pod A
55km/1,050m
Pod B
40km/800m
Day 3 (Tue)
Semnoz introduction
A long, sustained climb – big enough that its sheer scale can rattle people. We’ll use pacing discipline, cadence management and a few psychological strategies, then a long descent to build confidence.
Pod A
78km/1,450m
Pod B
60km/1,300m
Day 4 (Wed)
Bauges rolling hills
A lighter day, deliberately placed between the big ones. Group flow, recovery pacing, descending and a fuelling review – and time to revisit anything that needs work.
Pod A
72km/1,100m
Pod B
55km/700m
Day 5 (Thu)
Croix Fry/Marais · queen stage
The big one. A pod takes on the major mountain day via the Col de la Croix Fry; B pod rides a genuinely achievable col route – challenging but manageable. Everything you’ve learned, put into practice.
Pod A
85km/1,750m
Pod B
64km/1,100m
Day 6 (Fri)
Col de Tamié · finale
A strong final day: steady Alpine climbing and controlled descending, finishing on the Albertville cycle path back to the lake. Big enough to feel earned, judged so you finish fresh.
Pod A
82km/1,350m
Pod B
60km/850m
Why Lake Annecy is ideal for your first Alpine cycling trip
Lake Annecy is a wonderful place to discover riding in the Alps because you don’t have to ride a huge mountain every time you leave the hotel.
Within a relatively small area, we have everything from quiet roads by the lake to rolling terrain in the Bauges. Plus, long, steady Alpine climbs in the Aravis. This variety allows us to introduce bigger challenges gradually, rather than asking you to tackle a major col on your first morning.
It’s also simply a beautiful place to spend a week. The lake is surrounded by mountains. The roads lead you through small villages and high mountain pastures. There’s usually a good café or bakery along the way.
September is one of our favourite times to ride here. The busiest part of the summer has passed, the roads are generally quieter, and there is still plenty of daylight for long days in the mountains.
Local Knowledge
Tom, who runs this trip, lives here and rides these roads every day. We ride them throughout the year and know far more than simply how to follow the route. We know which roads get busy and when to steer clear. We also know the best climbs for developing certain skills. Plus, we can find options to shorten or lengthen a ride. Finally, we choose routes based on the different weather on either side of the lake.
That knowledge gives us the freedom to adapt the week as it develops. If the group is ready for something bigger, we can go bigger. If tired legs, weather or something we’ve been working on suggests another route would be better, we’ll change it. The aim isn’t to show you our six favourite routes around Annecy. It’s to use everything this area offers to create a fantastic week.
Your coaches
Coaches first. Racers second. This week is about riding with people who’ve made the mistakes and have a library of tools to help you ride better.
Tom Saxlund
Founder and Head Coach
Founder of New Generation, ski instructor, and a road cyclist of more than twenty years. He races European Granfondos in his age group – including a second place at the 2025 Marmotte – but he coaches first.
His mistake, so it’s not yours: he’s bonked badly in long events, had heat stroke so severe he didn’t know where he was, and crashed his bike doing it. Which is exactly why fuelling and pacing are the first things he covers.
Duncan Halliday
New Generation’s Swiss Director
A ski, snowboard and surf coach, and a racer across road, gravel and mountain bike. He’s finished top-ten on GC in multi-stage races and stood on podiums in graded races in Ireland.
His mistake, so it’s not yours: he bought his first bike without a fit, ended up on a frame too small, and made everything – steering, descending, sheer effort – harder and riskier than it needed to be. Now a quick bike-fit win is often the first improvement we make.
Where you’ll stay near Lake Annecy
We stay at the Hôtel du Lac in the centre of Talloires, a beautiful village on the eastern shore of Lake Annecy.
You’ll have an en-suite twin room, breakfast each morning, secure bike storage and a swimming pool in the garden. The lake is a short walk away, and Talloires has plenty of places to eat and have a drink in the evening.
Most importantly for us, it’s a great base for riding. We can leave the hotel in many directions. This gives us plenty of options to pick the right route each day. We won’t waste time transferring to the start.
What’s included in your Lake Annecy cycling holiday
Included
- Return airport transfers – Geneva to the hotel on arrival, hotel to Geneva on departure
- 7 nights at the Hôtel du Lac, en-suite, breakfast daily
- 6 days of riding with coaching
- Support vehicle every riding day, with mechanic and spares
Not included
- Flights
- Your bike, or bike hire (we can arrange local hire, roughly €350–450 depending on the bike)
- Lunch and on-ride fuel
- Evening meals
Getting there
Fly into Geneva airport. Transfers provided to the hotel.
Fitness level
You should be comfortable riding 75km, or three hours at a steady base-pace (zone 2), on more than one day in a row. If you can do that, you’ll fit in fine.
What to bring
Summer riding kit, plus a waterproof, long sleeves, a thermal top, long and short gloves, overshoes, a hat, and two bottles.
Lake Annecy cycling holiday: your questions answered
With two pods, a no-drop structure, a support vehicle and routes we flex every day, as long as you’re comfortable riding 75km or three hours a couple of days in a row, you’ll fit in fine.
Possibly. Have you already ridden six big days back to back? If so, look at our other trips: Málaga (Performance) sits at around 420–540km and 7,650–9,600m; Alpine Classics (Expedition) at around 370–490km and 8,800–12,450m.
No. We work hard to keep things inclusive – clever route planning, well-placed coffee and lunch stops, more than one ability group, and sensible use of the support vehicle when it’s actually needed.
Very unlikely. We’ve had riders from 22 to 75.
Either. We’re happy to help arrange local hire if you’d rather travel light (roughly €350–450 depending on the bike).
Book your Annecy Alps Cycling Holiday
Ride the Alps the way you’ve always wanted to. Six coached days on Lake Annecy. Two pods, nobody dropped, and the skills to come back and do it all again on your own.
£1800
Trip Dates