Les Géants

Les Géants is the ultra-distance challenge of Matchy, the Annecy cycling apparel brand founded in 2016 by Flore and Geoffrey, who design and make their kit close to home. It starts and finishes at the Matchy Cyclist Clubhouse in Annecy, the café and showroom that doubles as a meeting point for local riders, and its field has kept growing since the first edition in 2023.

As the name suggests, the event is about the giants: the highest passes of the French Alps, on road or gravel. Recent road routes have climbed the Iseran, the Galibier and the Croix de Fer and slipped into Piedmont over the Mont-Cenis, while the gravel route has taken in the Colle delle Finestre and the Strada dell'Assietta, an old military road through the Italian Alps.

Riders are on their own. Compulsory kit is checked at the start, outside help means disqualification, and food and sleep come from the shops, hotels and locals along the way. A tracker times every finisher, but the organisers insist the real goal is to reach the end in good physical and mental shape, and riders describe a field that looks out for each other through heat, storms and cold nights at altitude, where the only real opponent is yourself. A briefing and pasta party bring everyone together before the start, and in 2026 the organisers' own parents staffed the checkpoint on the Granon.