Thomson Bike Tours day 5 - Tour de France Chamrousse finish

So today was the big day: our first ride over part of a stage of the Tour, and a mountain top finish at that. As it turned out, this was the stage where Nibali was to assert his dominance over the remaining contenders for GC and our own Richie Porte sadly dropped out of the reckoning.

We were up at 6 am, early breakfast and drove for 90 minutes to the village of St-Martin-d'Uriage at the bottom of the climb. The important factor here was to get up the climb and back down to the Thomsom viewing marquees before the Gendarmes closed the road.

Unloading the bikes at the base of the climb.

The climb itself was a beauty; 18.2 km, 1,350 metes elevation gain at an average gradient of 7.2%, largely through beautiful forest. Along the way I stopped for a pee and was unfairly attacked by Sergei, one Thomson's ride leaders for the day, who opened up a gap equivalent to the length of time it takes a 64 year old to empty his bladder. It was a big gap. And a quite unnecessary tactic from Sergei, who holds the King of the Mountains (KOM) record on Strava for the Agliru - reputedly the hardest climb of all on the bike racing circuit.

I retaliated in kind. Daniel, another of the ride leaders, and I overhauled him (he wasn't trying, but do I need to say that), and Daniel restrained his bike by the saddle while I executed an impressive burst of high cadence cycling to open a goodly lead. It would be nice to say the next time I saw him was at the top but...

The whole climb was brilliant. All the way up there were camper vans, groups picnicking, flag waving people giving you a cheer etc. 

Even the Gendarmes seemed to be of a friendly disposition...

...well, almost.

I passed the Thomson marquees 2 km from the top...

...and continued to the ski village of Chamrousse, passing the 1 km to go kite and into the closed off section to within 100 metres of the finish line. 

There were bikes and people everywhere, with stalls selling Tour de France souvenirs, the finish line pavilions for the VIPs and even a commentator or two around. A bit much for me so I turned around and free-wheeled back down to the marquees.

A cold beer or three restored equilibrium... 

...(still wearing that smart hat) and we watched the Tour in the marquee on satellite TV (with English commentary) as the riders gradually approached the climb. 

It was sad to see half-way up the climb that Richie Porte dropped of the back of the peloton. As they approached our position you could hear the gradual increase in volume of the helicopters and with 1 km to go we left the TV and took up position by the roadside.

One of the defining moments of the trip for me was the site of Nibali gapping the chasing pack and rounding the bend at speed to take first place for the stage at the summit. 

Then the peloton began to come past, working hard, sweating, and looking so young (like boys) and all with a tiny build.

The climb had really strung them out, and it was over 30 minutes before the last rider passed our viewing point. Once the excitement was over we packed up and joined the throng for the ride back down the hill to the vans and back to base, just beating the team busses.

Another great day out.