The Climbs: Col de Marie-Blanque; Col du Soulor; Col du Tourmalet
Mercifully stages 16 and 17 were separated by the rest day as, with today’s stage is the choice for this year’s Etape du Tour, we were guaranteed for a tough time going back up the Col du Tourmalet from the other side for a mountain top finish.
Today was a day to really stretch the legs and see what I had left in them. I set off early (6.45am) with a group of good day trippers (with their fresh legs) and some less so. Out of Pau we headed west and took a rolling road through the woods of the Bois de Bager. This first 50km of the route, looking at the profile, would be considered ‘flat’, but the 15km section up to Oloron was quite undulating and before long some of the inexperienced day trippers had been spat out of the back, leaving four riders and myself. This group would stick together for the rest of the day.
The first of the three main climbs of the day was the Marie Blanque. I had been warned about the Marie Blanque by Williams and been told not to be lulled into a false sense of security by its relatively easy first few kilometres. Baring this in mind we resisted the temptation to go with a two French guys who shot past us at the foot of the hill. The final few kilometres really are back breaking and rarely drop below 10% with massive sections holding above 13%. We passed the afore mentioned French guys weaving all over the road in a right state...
From the top of the Marie Blanque the descent down to Bielle , with perfect tarmac almost the whole way, was a pure joy. One of the best descents in the Pyrenees.
After a decent drag along the valley floor, our next climb was up the Col du Solour. We had climbed the Solour on stage 16 on the way to the top of the Aubisque. This time we would be climbing the other side, a much more scenic climb that again put us atop of one of the most magnificent views looking towards the Aubisque.
After another superb descent from the Solour down to a brief lunch stop in Argeles we headed back up the road we followed two days previously all the way to the top of the Tourmalet; a long faux-plat to Luz-St Sauveur with Jes the time trial machine sat at the front cranking along, before a final 18km climb up to the summit of the Tourmalet.
This side of the Tormalet is definitely the tougher of the two and with the temperature reaching 35 Celsius by the time we started our ascent we were all in for a tough climb. With about 10km to go I really tried to empty the tank and moved up the road ahead of the others, digging deep to reach the top as quickly as my weary legs could muster. As I rolled over the summit I found no welcoming committee, just Sarah putting up the Tour de Force banner... The remainder of the front group of five rolled in at various points over the next 10 minutes. We then all grabbed a beer at the cafe and sat at the top waiting to cheer in the remainder of the group.
We arrived at the top at around 4pm and spent the next 4 hours sitting on the terrace cheering every one that came over the finish line, as more people came up the atmosphere grew and grew. For the people that were doing the whole thing, this really was the moment when the finish line moved into sight for others it was as equally a great achievement. Awesome.
By the time it reached 8pm most people were in, but a few stragglers remained. Due to timing issues we started to head down to La Mongie the ski station we had passed the previous day on the way up for a quick shower and some dinner. As we ate the last people rolled in, some on bikes and some, unfortunately, in the van. The heat today really took its toll on a lot of people. Riders were found hallucinating on the side of the road, people were cramping up, being sick.... all sorts! The core group made it though....
We were then transferred back to Pau at 10.30, not to arrive until after midnight making it an extremely long day for everyone involved, no matter what tie you finished up the mountain. The bus was like a furnace, and we had to stop several times as people that were already suffering fro heat related issues had to get out and be sick or just get fresh air. Not the best way to end the day!
It was always going to be hard to better Monday’s ride, but today came pretty close. Another epic day on the bike; it was great to get the chance to empty the tank, keeping the stops to a minimum and go for a big ride knowing that tomorrow we ‘only’ had a flat stage of 185km.
Just the best few days!
S
Time: 8hrs 7mins
Distance: 175.8km
Av Speed: 21.6km/h
Total Ascent: 4307m
Av HR: 141bpm
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