Sponsor Ciaran Doran at : https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ciarandoranbeforethetour
Great night sleep in the nicely air conditioned hotel in Valence meant I was up and ready for the day nice and early. All sun creamed up with P20 factor 50 it was good to feel good and fully ready for the day well in time for the bus pulling out.
Our start point differs from the official start point each day simply because we don’t really need to be doing the pre-roll section that the professionals do as that’s usually a warm up / show piece for the start town. So today’s start point was along he roadside at the point where the “official” start is located.
The Dutch group and the French group that we’ve been passing and passing us rolled past as we prepared ourselves. It’s great to see other groups on the route but I have to say that ours is definitely the best organised and most visible of the groups doing this the day before, partly because we have our logos all over big vehicles and also because we have official accredited motors who are operating a rolling road closure for us. When any riders join us they get quite a pleasant surprise when they simply sail through junctions and roundabouts with such ease – it truly is an experience. I hear that our entry to Paris up to the champs élysées will also be quite a spectacle!
The day churned and churned and I think there was an anticipation in the group because we all knew hat this was going to be a long old day at 201km in length. I, for one, felt it would be a challenge given the heat, the distance and the fact that the profile showed much more ascent than descent as we entered the Alps.
We stopped only a couple of ones before the first major climb, a category 2, to the Col de Cabre. The second time we stopped I remember commenting that my legs felt like lead for he first time. It’s that feeling that happens when the muscles are expecting to be used intensely and that’s not happening. It’s a bit like teasing them and the feeling is quite debilitating with a sense of lethargy. How can you get a sense of little exercise when you’re part way through a 201km stage of the Tour de France !
About 10km later we hit the bottom of the climb to col de Cabre. On the climbs it becomes a case of everyone for themselves as we need to go at our own pace. One rider, Mel, went off the front and she is good, then another, Hayden. Suddenly I found my legs again and tacked myself to the back of Hayden’s wheel, he’s also very good. The pace was great, cadence fast but not too fast and before I knew it I was really beginning to enjoy myself on this climb. The gradient was only about 3% to 4% but nevertheless I kept with Hayden up until 3km before the top and was nearly laughing all the way to the Col because I’d done it. My saddle position somehow worked without pain and I managed to finally get a complete climb of about 12km in without massive pain and with a proper rhythm to ensure I was most efficient to the top. What a great feeling it was to be there.
Lunch at the little mountain restaurant consisted of partridge and a spicy potato gratin which was wolfed down in a moment. It’s always enticing to eat a good lunch when it’s out before you but with the knowledge there was still 70km to ride after lunch I had to be careful.
He descent to he valley was beautiful and how wonderful to begin to see the expanse that is the Alps. The valley, however, was quite long and boring but the team worked really well together by constantly changing at the front of the group to both keep the speed up and to give relief to the front riders.
The second climb to the Col de Manse was a bit more difficult at the start with steeper gradients but then softened out to a shallower gradient which allowed a better rhythm for me. With that climb in the bag the descent to Gap was quite easy although it was narrow and technical. I’d have loved to ride that descent with a complete road closure as the bends were sometimes blind and too risky to take at any real speed. Enjoyable and rewarding all the same and the arrival at the finish line to the bus was a welcome relief.
So we just ate a 201km day with two category 2 climbs in the Alps and it felt like another day at the office. Perhaps it was because we all knew there was a rest day coming that the relief was in the air.
That’s it. Stage 16 done and rest day coming. Only got 4 more stages in the Alps, which was m breaking down to 2 + 2 because while all four days have tough mountain climbs the first two are long at 161km and 186.5km whereas the last two days are 138km and 110.5km. We did more than that before lunch yesterday! Bring it on 🙂 Paris here we come!
Sponsor Ciaran Doran at : https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ciarandoranbeforethetour
Thank you to our sponsors, without whom this challenge would not be possible.