Loubna and Nathalie challenge the Route des Grandes Alpes

Loubna, Nathalie, would you please introduce yourself?

Loubna: My name is Loubna Freih, I'm 58 and I live in Verbier, Switzerland, at an altitude of 1,500 meters. I'm the mother of two young men, who are very sporty, and the mountains really are the common thread running through our family life. Professionally, I'm a mental coach. My initial background is in Sciences Po and journalism, which led me to travel a lot before refocusing my life around the mountains.

I've been involved in human rights for over 30 years, and I now sit on the board of Human Rights Watch. The world is complex, sometimes violent, often unequal, and this commitment deeply nourishes my view of performance, resilience and the meaning of action. I'm also increasingly interested in environmental law: the mountains we love are fragile, and sport can be a way of creating a link with these territories to better protect them.

Nathalie: My name is Nathalie Monnier, I'm 40, I live in Ayent, in the Swiss Alps, and I'm originally from Crans-Montana. I grew up in a very balanced environment between sport and culture: my father, a former professional footballer, gave me a taste for effort, and my mother opened me up to the world of the arts. I'm married to Fabien, a semi-professional mountain biker, with whom I share many cycling adventures. Professionally, I'm part of the management of a major Swiss insurance group, where I'm responsible for digital services and ecosystems.

In parallel, I'm very involved in the local cycling scene: committee of the Fédération cycliste valaisanne, co-founder of a women's cycling community in French-speaking Switzerland, media contributor and race director for two events. I like to multiply projects, give them meaning and create collective dynamics. I'm curious, committed, optimistic... and sometimes a little impatient: I like it when things move forward!

When and how did cycling come about?

Loubna: I don't have a precocious athletic background. I've always had energy, I skied a lot, but endurance sports came later. I started with running when my children were small, then ski-mountaineering in competition, with longer and longer formats. The highlight was the Patrouille des Glaciers, that night race between Zermatt and Verbier, where I finished 2ᵉ in 2018. Incidentally, we're going again in 2026 with the same team!

Then I took up triathlon, then Ironman, with a very clear goal: to qualify for Hawaii. In 2024, I was crowned Ironman World Champion in my age category. It was in triathlon that I really discovered cycling. I was captivated by the freedom, speed and direct contact with the landscape. Today, for me cycling is a sport in its own right, a real passion. It has become a space for exploration in its own right, almost meditative at times, and deeply alive.

Nathalie: For my part, I've always had a strong link with sport: riding at national level, ballet, tennis, then running and swimming. In winter, I used to ski-mountaineer competitively. At around 28, I joined a triathlon club and discovered road cycling. Then I felt the need to devote myself fully to one discipline, and I chose cycling. I started with the Granfondo, l'Étape du Tour, La Marmotte, before extending the distances.

With my husband, we wanted to test our limits and set ourselves personal challenges, such as an unofficial 250 km tour of the resorts and 9,000 m of ascent. Then I turned to ultracycling: Race Across Switzerland, Swiss Challenge... I won the women's scratch race on the Transpyrenea and won a European climbing title on the Tremola. What I like and what I'm looking for is long endurance, adventure, surpassing myself, managing discomfort.

How did you meet?

Loubna: At a women's training camp organized by Nathalie in Crans-Montana. It was to prepare for the Haute Route. Very quickly, we felt we were riding at the same pace and with the same energy. I really appreciated the way she created a space where there was performance, but without unnecessary pressure. You can be demanding without comparing yourself. I liked her generosity, her ability to bring people together without excluding...

Nathalie: Loubna signed up after learning about the camp on the networks. She arrived with incredible energy, very inspiring. We clicked immediately. Our age difference created a special bond, based on trust and mutual esteem. Very quickly, a real friendship was born and we were keen to share other projects.

Why the Route des Grandes Alpes?

Loubna: I had already travelled it, some ten years ago, from Geneva to Nice. I have very strong memories of it: the passes, like the col du Galibier or the col de l'Iseran, the progression towards the sea, that feeling of crossing a world. At the end of 2025, I was looking for a new challenge after the Ironmans. When I came across the route again, I wanted to do it again, but this time in performance mode, to measure how far I'd come in ten years. The idea was to go fast, but without putting myself at risk, and to set the first women's mark as a duo. The idea of doing it with Nathalie came naturally.

Nathalie: The idea appealed to me immediately. It's a demanding sporting adventure, but also a human project. We know it's going to be tough: in kilometers, in elevation gain, in sleep management, in weather. But we know each other well, we know how each other works. There's a real complementarity and we share this desire to try, even when it's ambitious.

The Alps, what are they to you?

Loubna: A place of anchorage, humility, transmission. Cycling them is a way of honoring them.

Nathalie: It's my natural terrain. The mountains have built me. It forces adaptation, patience and solidarity, exactly what our project requires.

How does your project go beyond sport

Loubna:I've always worked on women's access to sport, particularly in contexts where it's not a given. Itinerant cycling is still very male-dominated. Riding for long periods, sometimes at night, can be a drag. This project is a way of saying: a woman can learn, dare, get out of her comfort zone, and that at any age.

Nathalie: We want to show the diversity of female profiles in cycling. There isn't just one way to be a cyclist. If our adventure makes other women want to take the plunge, at their own level, then that's already huge. I believe in gender diversity, but sometimes it takes visible initiatives to get the lines moving.