The Étape du Tour has all the thrills of the Tour de France

Emmie Collinge has dreamed of riding the Tour de France since she was age 10. So when the 25-year-old Briton won a contest to take part in the Étape du Tour, which took place on July 7, she couldn't believe her luck.

"I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it," says Collinge, a fresh masters grad who lives in Gent, Belgium, because of the cycling opportunities there. "I loved overtaking everyone up the hills, I loved the crowds, but I hated the descents."

Since 1993, the Étape du Tour has been the holy grail for "cyclosportive" enthusiasts, the equivalent of Boston for marathoners and Kona for triathletes. Each year, event organisers ASO - the same ones behind the Tour de France - pick a major mountain stage to give amateurs a taste of what the pros go through in the 21-stage Tour.

The mass participation event sets cycling apart from most other sports. You wouldn't be able to drive an F1 car around Monaco, or hit a few balls on centre court at Wimbledon, or have a kick around at Old Trafford.

This year's Étape replicates the Tour's penultimate stage, which the pros will ride this Saturday. It starts beside the lake in Annecy to the 1,700-metre high summit of Semnoz, in the heart of the Bauges Natural Regional Park in the Haute-Savoie department of the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France.

Although not nearly as long or with as much climbing as previous Étape editions, this year's event is an undulating 128 kilometres, with 3,500 metres of cumulative elevation gain, the altitude distributed among many ascents - including a final 11-kilometre climb with an 8.5 per cent average gradient.