– What doctor’s note / insurance etc do I need, or is a British Cycling race license satisfactory for race regulations?
Race Licence is fine, lots of people make a fake doctors letter though.
– Drops on the course – my mates had to walk down one or two drops on the upper section when they had a look at the course a couple of years ago. The rest was fine. Do we need to be able to ride these drops or are there other hapless people like us who won’t be launching it like a pro?
I don’t recall there being any drops or more than a couple of foot at best on either the qualifier or main race. There are some steep rollers, but there are plenty of lines to bimble round. Yes there is plenty of hapless people stood like lemmings looking at sections.
– Does everyone get a final (Mega, Mega Challenger, Affinity etc etc) or are there some who don’t even make that and just get to ride the full course later?
Yes. Although if you really are out the back end of the qualifier, you don’t get a mass start race, they just time you on an open run on the full track (not sure if it’s the Saturday or the Sunday for that).
– Where does the qualifier generally start and finish? I’ve heard its shorter?
It starts at the top of Dome Des Petites Rousses & now finishes in Huez (town below ADH). Last year it was ~23 mins for the winners, anything up to ~26 mins seemed to get you into the main race, then backwards from there.
– Been to the Alps a few times and always run single ply tyres (both tubeless and with tubes) with no issues. Do I really need dual ply?
Depends if you want to bimble or not. Everyone who we rode with who gambled with single ply tyres had a lot of punctures, so swapped for dual ply & no one punctured for the rest of the week. They would all be at the quicker end of the scale though & there to race/qualify for the main event – all riding & racing DH in the UK.