Early start from Orcieres for Stage 17 and 18, leaving our overnight stop over an immediate 25km descent to Gap, riding out to Chorges and back to cover the 20mile route of the Stage 17 time trial, nothing much to report, chilly descent and dodging the early morning traffic around Gap.
The riding started properly following the route of Stage 18, directly North from Gap towards Bourg d'Oisans and on to an ascent (or two) of Alpe d'Huez and the Col de Sarenne.
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| On the road to Bourg d'Oisans |
Following the N85 out of Gap took in another ascent of the Col de Manse, and early leg warmer! before passing through small towns, wide sweeping valleys and grand views of the Alps ahead. A relatively gentle ride for much of the way until with a Category 3 climb along the way before leaving the main road to head onto the quieter roads heading to the Cat 2 climb of the Col d'Ornon. Dodging the rain, darker skies and rumblings of thunder heading from the South we headed through the valley surrounded on all sides by high mountains and onto the climb which was already lined with hundreds of all to familiar motor homes, waiting in anticipation for Stage 18 to pass through the next day.
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| Riding into the Col d'Ornon |
Passing the summit the descent into Bourg d'Oisans was spectacular, 25km along (a slightly cracked and rutted road!) tight bends, road edged with low walls looking straight down into deep tree covered valleys straight through to main road leading into the centre of town, a quick stop for food and a chance to get the other bike repaired (thank you to Au Cadre Rouge
www.aucadrerouge.fr for great service and for not charging us!).
The centre of Bourg d'Oisans was packed with riders from all over the world, maybe 10,000 or maybe 50,000, never seen so many riders and bikes!
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| Had to get off the bike! |
Onto Alpe d'Huez, the chaos began, the roads through Bourg were now well & truly packed with drivers, walkers, scooters, runners, cyclists and many more trying to get onto or along an already packed mountain road or to the town at the summit, we were told by locals that by today there would be over 1 million people in Bourg and Alpe, it seemed that they were already there, never has a mountain pass and every bend been so packed with people, quite incredible!
The first two legs of the climb seem steeper before a slightly more gentle gradient into the famous 21 bends each of which gave a few seconds of relief as the road flattens (temporarily) on the bend, ride it wide cut in and you almost get a few metres, a few seconds of flat, marginal gains, marginal benfits, every little helps!
The first of what was expected to be two ascents of Alpe d'Huez was truly chaotic, dodging motor homes
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| Bourg d'Oisans |
already parked, a constant line of new vehicles heading up the mountain, drink fulled revelers (sorry, Dutch cycling fans) joggers, scooters coaches etc etc etc made the experience of climbing the Alpe less special compared to what had been imagined, combined with darker skies and light rain the experience fell short of the Pyrenees and other more beautiful stages, all that mattered now was reaching the summit.
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| Summit Alpe d'Huez |
Reaching the summit, we spent no more than 5 minutes before leaving the masses to their festivities, dropping down to pick up the 'rough' road to the Col de Sarenne and a final descent towards Bourg, cutting out the last few kilometres to avoid now packed roads and what would have been a less than pleasant second ascent of Alpe d'Huez. After the serenity and simple beauty of the Pyrenees and Ventoux we were happy to leave Stage 18 behind us, roll on the Tour for all those expectant fans, it will be quite a day. Each corner of the climb now seems to have become home to each country of supporters, the bright orange of 'Dutch corner' was certainly in full swing, possibly so for some days.......
Ride 21 crew and rider, supporting Action Medical Research, just about to begin Stage 19, one step nearer to Paris. 500 riders on the Action Medical Research London to Paris challenge now on the road, good luck!
www.action.org.uk/tourdefrance
Twitter @chrisarmishaw
''to have their names written across the highest peaks, they must cross these summits to glory on the high roads to victory''
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