We’re now less than two weeks away from the men’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice, France. Set to take place on 14 September 2025, this will be the final year (for a while at least) that the French Riviera location hosts a full distance world championship event. And the last few years of Kona vs Nice debate aside, one thing you can’t argue with is that the bike course in Nice is nothing short of iconic. Technical twists and turns. Challenging climbs. Sweeping descents. It really is a course for the bikers.
So if you’re lucky enough to be racing it this year, you really want to be able to make the most of every mile. Enter: ROUVY. The virtual cycling platform which uses augmented reality to give riders the opportunity to ride real routes, without leaving home, has just launched the full IRONMAN World Championship Nice route – in its full race day set up.
Practice your IRONMAN World Championship Nice bike strategy on ROUVY
ROUVY announced a long-term partnership with IRONMAN earlier this year, bringing in a comprehensive library of IRONMAN race routes and triathlon-specific workouts – you can see our top picks here. This makes it easier than ever to fully recon your race routes, without having to justify the extra expense (and time off work) to actually go out and ride a route ahead of time in real life.
And for a course like Nice, where you’ve got 2500m elevation gain with the gradient kicking up as steep as 20% – knowing the course is going to be more important than ever. Not only to get familiar with every twist and turn, so you know when you can push the speed and when you need to scale it back a bit on the descents. But also to practice your pacing and fuelling strategy on some of the key climbs to make sure you’re not going to do too much damage early on in the ride and end up crawling out of T2 onto the marathon course instead of running.
So obviously, being able to ride the same roads on ROUVY is going to be beneficial. But what makes the new route special is that, thanks to ROUVY’s technology and collaboration with the on-site team at IRONMAN France. The virtual IRONMAN World Championship Nice bike route on ROUVY also reflects all of the race day event details. That includes timing mat placements, penalty boxes (though hopefully you won’t need to visit those!) and most importantly, aid stations. This makes it easier than ever before to plan, prepare and control the controllables to set yourself up with the best chance of success come race day.
Given that we’re less than 14 days out from the 2025 race, you might not want to jump on and ride the full 180km route at this stage. But if you’re tapering, there’s a shorter version of the route available which features the complete ascent of Col de Vence. So you can still get a feel for what you’ll be tackling come race day.
Tick off a pre-race tune up workout with Sam Long
Taper time might be about reducing volume so you hit the start line feeling fit and fresh, without the mid-training block fatigue. But it’s essential to keep a bit of intensity in your weekly sessions to maintain some race sharpness. Back off too much and you’ll risk arriving at the start line feeling flat and sluggish.
Sam Long is one of the professional male athletes making up a stacked PRO field for Nice. No stranger to blasting his way up the leader board on the bike, Long has collaborated with ROUVY to create an exclusive bike workout that will help you to feel ready and raring to tackle the Nice bike course.
“The Nice course is as beautiful as it is tough. For me, being able to train on it virtually with ROUVY has been a game-changer, helping me fine-tune my preparations for race day. But it’s also a superb route not only for triathletes racing in Nice but for anyone who loves a challenging, scenic ride. It’s the ultimate recce tool and it has got me even more hyped for the World Championships.”
Sam Long, professional triathlete and ROUVY athlete
The Sam Long Climbing Threshold session, designed by the man himself, is a 60 minute threshold interval workout. Created specifically with the course in Nice in mind, it’ll help your body – and your mind – get ready to attack the climbs.
Get started on ROUVY with a 7 day free trial
New to ROUVY? You can find out everything you need to know about the indoor cycling app in our dedicated ROUVY section. Tap the button below to find out how to access your 7 day free trial and start riding.
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