Les 3 Ballons

Les 3 Ballons is a road cyclosportive in the southern Vosges, held on Saturday 5 June 2027 according to the organiser’s website. Riders start from the Esplanade du Stade in Ronchamp, in Haute-Saône (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), and finish at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles. It is a mass-start event run on open roads, so riders must obey the highway code, with marshals and a safety team along the route; results are published by ACN Timing. The 2026 edition offered a 181 km Granfondo and a 93 km Mediofondo, both ending on the same short, steep summit finish.

Routes and distances

Two courses are on offer, both starting in Ronchamp and finishing on La Planche des Belles Filles; the organiser labels the route details as the 2026 course, given as an indication for 2027.

The Granfondo covers 181 km with 4,020 m of climbing. The 2026 edition featured the Ballon de Servance (1,216 m), Col d’Oderen (884 m), Markstein (1,247 m), Grand Ballon (1,424 m) and Ballon d’Alsace (1,247 m), before the finish on La Planche des Belles Filles.

The Mediofondo covers 93 km with 2,200 m of climbing. The 2026 edition featured the Ballon de Servance and the Ballon d’Alsace, then the final climb to La Planche des Belles Filles.

The organiser does not publish the order of the climbs or their lengths and gradients on its route page, so it is worth checking the official GPX and route update once the 2027 course is released.

The defining feature is the finish. After the long day among the ballons, the course ends on La Planche des Belles Filles, which the organiser describes as a short but tough finish, with sections above 15%. At the summit, a self-service pasta party awaits. Getting back to Ronchamp afterwards is easy: the organiser gives about 14 km from the foot of the climb, mostly downhill or gently descending.

Explore the route on Cycling Friendly: Les 3 Ballons – Mediofondo

Practical notes: in 2026 the Granfondo started at 7:00 and the Mediofondo at 7:25, both from the Esplanade du Stade in Ronchamp. Both routes carried the same time limits, 9:20 at Le Thillot and 17:45 at Plancher-les-Mines. The Granfondo had four feed stations and the Mediofondo two, and a meal ticket is included in the entry pack. Private feeding and assistance from a vehicle are forbidden, although feeding at the roadside, on the right, with the bike stopped is allowed. The official GPX of the 2026 Mediofondo is available on the website; we did not find a Granfondo GPX there. These details are from 2026.

Registration

The website says that registration for 2027 will open soon, without giving a date. In 2026 the prices were tiered by bib number and included the Chef de File jersey: for the Granfondo, EUR 75 for the first 250 bibs, EUR 80 for the next 750 and EUR 85 for the rest; for the Mediofondo, EUR 70 for the first 100, EUR 75 for the next 250 and EUR 80 for the rest.

Entries on site cost EUR 5 more on the eve and EUR 10 more on race day, subject to availability. Bibs are collected on presentation of an ID document and the e-ticket emailed a few days before the event; numbers are allocated on site, and bibs cannot be transferred or resold.

Full details are on the official website.

Why ride it

The route links several of the Vosges ballons, the rounded, high summits that give the event its name, in a single day, with the Granfondo reaching 1,424 m at the Grand Ballon. The finish on La Planche des Belles Filles is a summit with sections above 15%, so the climb itself defines the last part of the day.

Where to stay

The organiser’s accommodation page names only the Ronchamp tourist office as the contact for lodging near the start, so riders should look in and around Ronchamp, ideally arriving the day before to collect their bib ahead of the early start (7:00 in the 2026 programme).

Browse more cycling-friendly accommodation and book early, as rooms near the start are limited.