I've always been surprised that at the Marmotte, with so much climbing there are thousands of cyclists from the Netherlands. If your country is flat, how do you train for long climbs? Whats your secret?

Just ride through the wind, with a high cadence (i think )

But neither the position on the bike nor the cadence will be the same as when climbing...

dunno, ask a real duchtman

I'msure that Lance Armstrong once said thatwhen he trains in Austin, Texas he rides into the strong headwinds to train for climbs... not as good as a proper climb, but it would certainly help. I'm sure Dutch riders would proabably do similar type of training. Better ask a Dutch rider to be certain.

Stevie

talent !

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Well... good climbing performance has everything to do with power to weight ratio. Improving power at anaerobic treshold can be done by training on flat roads, so if you are able to keep the weight down, a solid uphill performance is possible.

Another factor is climbing efficiency. It's quite possible to get the feel for climbing within the borders of the Netherlands: We've got hills (other than dykes ) of up to 400m in the south. The Ardennes are a few hours' drive away, so there are possibilities for a bit longer climbs not too far away.

I think that pro's and semi pro's do a lot of training in the Alps too, but having a near flat home country does not limit climbing ability I think. There is an nice history of Dutch riders winning TdF mountain stages to prove that.

Nicely said

yeah, JK is right!

Do loads of powertraining and ride in strong headwinds.

And maybe it is what adri said... (we are honoured)

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Well after all, good climbing has a lot to do with talent.
And we Belgians are pleased that so many of you like to come over to our Ardennes although the region around Gulpen in the Netherlands also has its fair share of steep stuff, bot on- and offroad .

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I do more prefer climbs in the french alps like the sarenne, croix the fer, bonette and izoard...

But here in the north of the netherlands (Groningen) we have some very hard headwinds. Oege Hiddema (winner of the marmotte in 2005, 2nd in 2003) is doing also lot's of training here.

Wow. He must be really fast - winning a 2005 race allready!

It isn't a typo...
He crashed this year in the week before the marmotte. So he couldn't start this year. But he won La Vaujany on 27-06-2004

Lots of Dutch bikes, like Koga Miyata, Gazelle or Batavus are only available with a triple crankset.... that should tell enough....

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what that the Dutch are sissy's??

Okay calm down now....I was just kidding. I don't think that....it was a joke, put down the flame thrower and just step back.