Another 6 am rise to head out of Brussels. Again we headed out in the wind and rain along a cobbled city centre, resulting in several punctures for the group within the first 10km.
Once out of Brussels things get a little less flat and the terrain started to turn into rolling hills.
The GoF headed out pretty quickly for the first half of the day, but with the water stations coming approximately every 40km. It was only every a matter of minutes before other groups started rolling in. Lesson learned - no point going off ahead of the group (unless going up a hill).
Today's route was a little bit of a nod to Leige-Bastogne-Leige and took in a number of its key hills, making today the first day of the Tour to see categorised climbs. The most impressive of these was the Col de Stockeu, on which Mercx famously always attacked, which hit 23% at points. Seriously steep! At the top is a monument to Mercx (photo below).
Due to a slight mapping error the stage ended up being 20km longer than expected, which really hit hard at the end of the day compunded by the fact that our hotel was at the top of a 14% climb in Spa.
Pretty beat, and have a 5 am rise tomorrow for a transfer to the start of the next stage.
Longer and more hilly than expected!
S
Time: 8hr 56m
Distance: 216.3km
Av Speed: 24.2km/h
Total Ascent: 3037m
Av HR: 134bpm
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