There was more than one world champion on the roads of France this week. And it wasn’t Lance Armstrong or Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara.

Nordic combined world champions Billy Demong, Todd Lodwick, and Johnny Spillane, along with teammate Brett Camerota, are in France for a two-week training camp. They have been practicing on the 1992 Olympic ski jumps in La Praz in Courchevel every morning, then taking to the roads on their bikes in the afternoons. 

Demong and Lodwick each won gold medals at the 2009 World Championships — Demong taking a gold and silver, and Lodwick winning two golds. At 2003 Worlds, Spillane became the U.S.’s first Nordic combined world champion.

By Thursday evening, Demong — who races bikes in the summer for Cole Sport, a Park City, Utah, team — said he had already logged 650 kilometers (404 miles) this week — “pretty much averaging 150k per day.” That’s about 93 miles a day … and only about 10k (six miles) shorter than most of the Tour de France stages in the Alps.

So far on their tour of France, the Nordic combined team, plus head coach Dave Jarrett, have ridden the Cormet de Roseland, one of the first climbs in Wednesday’s stage 17, and on Monday — while the Tour riders enjoyed their second of two rest days — the Nordic combined guys tackled the famed Col de la Madeleine, a 28.3-km (17.6-mile) climb that averages a five percent grade. While not on the 2009 Tour de France route, the Madeleine is renowned as one of the hardest climbs in the Alps. It was last included in the 2005 Tour, when Armstrong won his final of seven Tours de France.

Asked which has been the hardest climb, Demong said via email: “I’ve ridden up to our hotel in La Praz four times, and that climb is wearing thin! But honestly, I would say that the Col de la Madeleine was the toughest single climb.”

Bike racers commonly have 20 gears on their road bikes, with two chain rings in the front and 10 cogs in the back. For climbing steep hills, racers use a smaller chain ring in the front and a larger one in back. For example, for climbs in the Rockies, riders might use a 39-tooth front chain ring and a 21-tooth cog in the back.

Demong found he wanted even lower gears for the Alps though.

“The actual passes are not super steep, at least not the ones we’ve ridden,” he said. “But I have been riding a 26 [tooth back cog]. I’ve been in it a lot, and if I had a bigger one I’d use it! This might be compact crank territory.”

A compact crank allows a rider to use a small chain ring with fewer than 39 teeth, which would really be a low gear.

Tuesday, the Nordic combined team members stationed themselves at the top of the Col du Petit-St-Bernard, a 22.6km (14-mile) climb averaging 5.1 percent and the last climb in stage 16. This was the site of several newsworthy 2009 Tour events: On the climb up to the Col, Armstrong made a huge effort to rejoin his teammate Alberto Contador and the Schleck brothers after an attack by Andy Schleck dropped the Texan lower on the Col; and on the descent off the Col, German rider Jens Voigt on the Saxo Bank team had a horrible crash. The TV camera caught him landing on his face, then sliding on the asphalt face down. He suffered a broken cheekbone and a concussion and has been hospitalized in Grenoble.

About their vantage point on the Col du Petit-St-Bernard, Demong commented: “Yes, we were at the summit, but [Armstrong] had already caught back on. We missed Jens’ crash, but Todd had one of his own. Luckily, he is OK.”

Lodwick crashed into a car on Wednesday while riding back from watching stage 17 on the Col de Les Saisies, a 15.1-km (9.3-mile) climb with a six percent grade. According to a press release on the U.S. Ski Team website, Lodwick rounded a corner, swerved to miss a stopped vehicle, and collided head-on with a car.

Luckily, Lodwick’s bike and the car’s windshield suffered more damage than the skier. The fork of his bicycle split, and he broke the car’s windshield and dented its roof. Lodwick was checked out at a hospital in Albertville but only suffered bumps and bruises.

“The crash happened very quickly,” he said in the press release. “But I am happy to be uninjured, which is more than I can say for the car and my bike. I am looking forward to getting to my family, resting up a bit, and then heading back into the training season.”

Despite Lodwick’s crash, the trip to France has been successful for the Nordic combined team. “One of the goals of this camp was to get the veterans excited,” said Jarrett, who is also riding with the guys. “We have done that. Furthermore, I hope seeing these guys, if only for a minute as they go by, will inspire and motivate our athletes to prepare and execute next February in Whistler.”

I think the Tour riders should be inspired by the Nordic combined team, who are riding their bikes almost as far as the Tour competitors. But not until after they’ve flown off the K120 ski jump in Courchevel.

PHOTO: U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team athletes rest atop the 2,000-meter Col de la Madeleine including (from left) Billy Demong, Johnny Spillane, Dave Jarrett and Todd Lodwick. (U.S. Ski Team/Dave Jarrett)