This is a game that entered this site in December 2023, and it did so in the unpublished games section. A year later, after some testing and a few presentations at game fairs and conventions, this game was released in a print-and-play version. Of course, the prototypes displayed on the game's website, the ones used at game conventions, were much bigger than the PnP version. They looked really good.
 

 

Full-size early prototype (picture from Christophe Diot's website)

 

Grand Plateau is a game that tries to represent all aspects of a cycling race, whether one-day or stage races. It has rules for uphill, downhill, and flat terrains and different types of riders (the usual sprinter, rouleur, climber, and GC riders). The movement of the cyclists is controlled by dice, but the game has an energy-keeping system (also quite usual: moving less than the rolled number or placing your rider just behind another gives an energy token; spending these energy tokens -up to four per turn- allows you to advance extra squares). There are four different dice: a modified D6 for each type of terrain and a D20 for the (also usual) race incidents.

The dice are not available for download (downloadable dice are not any good anyway), so you will have to modify your D6 with stickers. What is downloadable, though, is the game board. You will have to print in a professional copy shop if you want to play with big riders, but you could probably test the game with something smaller.

Prototype used at game conventions (picture from Christophe Diot's website)

The different terrains are downloaded separately and superimposed on the board, as you can see in the picture above. You also see the modified dice and the rider cards that you can download but the use of which I cannot find in the presently published rules.

You can also download one of the available race profiles (which represent actual races) or make your own, keeping in mind that one square is supposed to represent 3 km, that red tiles represent climbs with an average gradient over 9%, or climbs longer than 5 km AND with an average gradient of 6%, and that yellow tiles represent easier climbs. Green tiles represent downhill sections.

As said above, this game can represent one-day races (estimated playing time according to the game's website: 45 minutes) or stage races. To be able to play the latter, a simple time-keeping rule is provided, as well as a time trial rule which, as the rules of the game themselves confess, is not strategically interesting, since the game is about the interaction between riders, and is just there for the sake of completeness. Needless to say, strategical subtleties will unfold in the game when playing stage races.
 

 

I attended this stage at Montjuic!

At the moment of writing, there are 15 real race simulations available, 8 of which are one-day races (including the 5 monuments!). Among the stage races are the Tour, Giro, and Vuelta, but also the Volta a Catalunya, which makes me really happy. Stage races are updated each year (2026 versions are already available), so you'd rather download and save them if you think you will want past editions in the future.

New version of the board. The track is longer, and the background image has disappeared.

I finished my first review of the game with this paragraph: "Grand Plateau is a nice attempt to make an all-encompassing cycling game. Its rules are hardly the most original, and the game will not make cycling board games' history, but it is not a bad game, one that I will probably enjoy playing if I am lucky enough to catch it at a games event, and one that could perfectly be published in a commercial boxed version. I have seen worse games published, but of course there are many cycling games, even many recent cycling games, and the potential market is not that big. So, since we do not know if Grand Plateau will ever be commercially released, if I were you, I would download the print-and-play version while it is available."

At another point in my review I had remarked that the downloadable version required some tweaking on your part. Well, Christophe Diot emailed me to ask if I would be interested in him sending me a ready-to-play prototype. Of course I said yes. Though I presently have problems finding players to test games (life, you know), a nice prototype always helps.

The new board with a few mountains and hills. Some colour is added!

 

My surprise when I received it was that the description "nice prototype" was a clear understatement. What Christophe sent me was a 120 x 80 cm neoprene board, complete with 4 teams of 5 cm hand-painted riders (plus one with a yellow jersey), and all the necessary cards, dice, and counters to lure me into playing the game.

Wow! Who needs a background image?

Different dice for flats, hills, and mountains, plus an event D20.

When he asked me what teams (and even what kind of teams) I preferred, I answered, "Surprise me!". Surprised I was, indeed, when I received the teams. Christophed explained that he chose teams of different nationalities, with clearly differentiated jerseys (in different colours), and also that he chose former versions of the jerseys.

The type of rider is marked by the colour of the helmet and base.

One of each: sprinter (green helmet), rouleur (blue), climber (red), and CG leader (white)

A breakaway by rouleurs and leaders

The peloton from the inside (as if seen with a bodycam)

 

So, has my opinion of the game changed? Yes and no. While I still think that Grand Plateau, though not being the most original of cycling games, is a solid, decent game, not worse than many published games, Christophe Diot is proving how strongly he believes in his game. While I still do not know if the game will ever be commercially released, now I know that behind the game is a stubborn creator that is willing to go to great lengths to make sure his game receives all the attention he thinks it should.

And in the process, he has achieved that the prototype he has sent me enters my list of favourite games. How could it not?

 

Finally, the rules, which used to be only in French, are now in five languages, so this is not an excuse anymore (if it ever was). Furthermore, there are plenty of video tutorials of this game available, so you can get your own idea of how this game is and if it does appeal to you.

Download the game from its official website