The middle day of
the “Alpine Triple” was the longest (205km) and involved the most amount of
climbing (5,000m). Arguably it was the Queen stage of the whole Tour and, other
than the Ventoux stage, was the one that most of the riders were concerned
about / fearing. No matter how you approached it, it was going to be a long day
in the saddle!
The briefing the
night before was detailed and the tension around the room was palpable. People
were already feeling tired from having been up Alpe d’Huez twice within the
last few hours… to be told they would be going up two more HC climbs, from the
harder sides, within the first 80km of the stage wasn’t necessarily welcome
news.
A big day meant an early start. Breaking from the
traditional format of all regrouping at the first feed stop we were offered the
opportunity to set off from Alpe d’Huez at anytime between 7 and 7.30am. Today
everyone would be going at their own pace. The slower riders being urged to set
off as early as possible.
I set off at around 7.25am with a bunch of the
Linklaters crew. Pt, Janice and JK had set off and were down the road already.
Whilst the official Tour route would leave
Bourg-d’Oisans we started from our hotel atop Alpe d’Huez and descended down to
join up with the route at Lac du Verney. The views as we left the hotel and
started our descent were magnificent, the morning sun lighting the clouds that
sat below us in the valley. We descended the first 4km of the climb and took a
right at the village of Huez along to Villard-Reculas giving great balcony
views of the valley and the legendary switchbacks of the Alpe d’Huez climb.
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| Not a bad view to wake up to.... |
Another fast descent, through the clouds, took us
to the base of the Col du Glandon / Col de la Croix de Fer climb and our first
HC climb of the day – 22km to the top of the Glandon.
Knowing that another monster of a climb was to come
and that the rest of stage was no walk in the park either, I tapped out a very
comfortable pace and slowly worked my way up through a number of the earlier
starters.
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| Epic Alpine mornings... |
Cycling in the cool and crisp mountain air as the
climb took us first through tree lined forests before opening up to rugged
green pastures and mountain vistas (yet again) provided breath-taking scenery,
making even such a long climb thoroughly enjoyable.
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| Standard |
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| Looking up towards the Col de la Croix de Fer |
Another fast descent took us to our first feed
station, halfway down to the valley. Following a quick coffee and some food we
set off again with the second half of the descent delivering us directly to the
base of the Col de la Madeleine. Phil had described this 19km climb at an
average of 8% as the hardest climb of this years Tour.
It was true that the climb was relentless (it
maintained its 8% gradient for the entire 19km), but taken at a comfortable
pace again it was nothing to fear. The views were fabulous and it wasn’t long
before I was at the summit, the second highest point of this year’s Tour (by
just a metre!).
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| Almost the highest point of the Tour |
The second feed stop of the day was in the car park
at the top and I waited for others to arrive whilst refuelling. I was keen to
set off, but others were faffing for quite some time and I opted to head off on
the descent with Luke and JK on the assumption that if we slowed in the valley
below others would soon catch up.
An awesome 26km decent later (I was pleased to be
going down this side, having winched my way up it in the 2010 TdF) I slowed at
the bottom, having lost JK and Luke (not renowned for the speed of their
descending). I soft pedalled a while, but there was still no sign of the
others. As I continued on I was faced with a 20km solo ride across the valley
floor into a block headwind – not the most enjoyable 45mins of the day!
I finally caught another rider who had loitered
less at the feed stop and rode with him up what should have been on paper a
simple climb, but in the heat and after the headwinds was a little tough. At
the top we stopped for lunch.
After lunch I headed out with the Lifer that I had
caught along the valley floor. All that we had between us and the end of the
stage were two final 1st category climbs – the Col de l’Epine and
the Col de la Croix Fry.
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| Spoilt for views all day long |
Whilst they looked simple in comparison to the
first two climbs of the day they were still tough climbs – particularly with
the number of kilometres already in legs and that they would be ridden in the
heat of the day. It was another scorching hot day!
I rode the Col de l’Epine at a steady tempo and
waited at the top for my companion before we both descended to the final water
stop of the day and then hit the Col de la Croix Fry.
The Croix Fry was a tough little climb, with some
really tough sections of well over 10% in the middle, but with the end of the
stage in sight it wasn’t too difficult to push on to the summit where I stopped
again to wait for my riding partner. Whilst taking a photo I somehow managed to
drop my chain only for the guy I had been waiting for at the top of every climb
to just ride straight past me and race off down the descent towards the hotel. Odd,
but in many ways not unsurprising, behaviour…
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| The final bump of a massive day (thanks for waiting)! |
The final descent into Thones (a town just beyond
the official finish in La Grand-Bornand) was very fast and we arrived back at
the hotel, together, as the second riders in.
I took advantage of my early arrival to have a
(very painful) massage for my weary legs before watching people slowly come in
over the course of the next few hours (JK arriving back as the first girl of
the day, by some margin, and ahead of the vast majority of everyone else).
We eagerly awaited news of how Pt and Janice had
fared during the day and soon learnt that Janice had been really struggling up the
Col de la Madeleine, arriving at the top completely dehydrated, exhausted and
vomiting. Poor Janice had been forced to get in the van for the rest of the
stage and was put on a saline drip in her hotel room to help her recover. Pt
meanwhile had been helping Janice up the Madeleine and as a result had lost a
lot of time. He arrived at the base of the Col de la Croix Fry too late to be
allowed to go over it and had taken a shorter route back to the hotel. Over 30
riders failed to make it over the last climb! Even not making the last 20km
loop, Pt had still cycled over 180km (the majority of which as done on his own)
and climbed 4,300m – as tough a day as any other stage of the Tour and an awesome achievement.
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| A blatant disregard for the no needles policy... |
As for myself, I had an absolutely
awesome day and felt great throughout. The contrasting climbs and scenery and
the sheer magnitude of the day encapsulated everything that I love about
cycling.
