Today's ride began in Grenoble - we said 'au revoir' to the Alps - and ended in Valence, 112 kms away.
It was a 4.5 hour hard ride with over 1000 metres of climbing, including a 10 km, 6 degree climb up the Sassenage and into the gorge country. We had coffee in the inviting village of Villard-de-Lans and then raced through the 20km windy descent of the Gorges de la Bourne. The French resistance hid out here in WWII due to the narrow and unforgiving territory of overhangs, caves and deep gorges. Our lunch stop was the delightful St Nazaire-on-Royans where we sampled the french pastries and recovered.
We then pushed on to Valence finally hitting the city's outskirts by 2.15pm. Our last 15km took us directly on to the finishing section of the TDF stage. We pushed on at mighty pace partly because the people lined up for the tour finish were yelling 'allez,allez,allez' and partly because the gendarmes were eyeing us nervously through every checkpoint. They close off the tour road 2.5 hours before the ride arrives. Sure enough, just as we got into a 40km/hr wind-up they stopped us at the 2km sign and made us walk the rest of the way.
Anyway, we saw nearly the whole peloton arrive as one and charge down the final section of Valence. It was an awesome sight of speed and seething bike mania. Cavendish won the sprint (again), but Renshaw - his lead out man - got rubbed out from the tour for head-butting a rider in the final 300m surge to the line.
Tonight we have moved to the historic town of Avivgnon to prepare for another grueling, but fun day!
It was a 4.5 hour hard ride with over 1000 metres of climbing, including a 10 km, 6 degree climb up the Sassenage and into the gorge country. We had coffee in the inviting village of Villard-de-Lans and then raced through the 20km windy descent of the Gorges de la Bourne. The French resistance hid out here in WWII due to the narrow and unforgiving territory of overhangs, caves and deep gorges. Our lunch stop was the delightful St Nazaire-on-Royans where we sampled the french pastries and recovered.
We then pushed on to Valence finally hitting the city's outskirts by 2.15pm. Our last 15km took us directly on to the finishing section of the TDF stage. We pushed on at mighty pace partly because the people lined up for the tour finish were yelling 'allez,allez,allez' and partly because the gendarmes were eyeing us nervously through every checkpoint. They close off the tour road 2.5 hours before the ride arrives. Sure enough, just as we got into a 40km/hr wind-up they stopped us at the 2km sign and made us walk the rest of the way.
Anyway, we saw nearly the whole peloton arrive as one and charge down the final section of Valence. It was an awesome sight of speed and seething bike mania. Cavendish won the sprint (again), but Renshaw - his lead out man - got rubbed out from the tour for head-butting a rider in the final 300m surge to the line.
Tonight we have moved to the historic town of Avivgnon to prepare for another grueling, but fun day!
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It all looks amazing. I wish I was having the coffee and pastries but I'll leave the riding up to you!
ReplyDeleteThe custard filled choux pastries are to die for. They make you go faster uphill!
ReplyDeleteAnd all that custard makes you much, much faster downhill!! Jim Mc
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