2009 Etape du Tour Report

July 20 L'Etape, plus transit to Bourg St Maurice

So, the course for L'Etape was as the pros did it.

Epic.

Ok, so the logistics around this L'Etape were an ABSOLUTE nightmare.

Montelimar is about 100km (the short way) from Ventoux and we had to have our van on the hill the day before, with our booked accomodation in Valence – 50km from Montelimar. This meant we had to leave our bikes in Montelimar the day before (19th), drive to the Ventoux, leave the van there, get the shuttle back (3 hours), then ride to Valence. We would then need to get a taxi from Valence to Montelimar at 5AM on the 20th (at a cost of around 100 Euros at least) for L'Etape.

This clearly is, as Rommell stated in the desert, “ein klusterfkken”. Our agent made a mistake with the accommodation booking (props to Travel Affare for refunding our accom even though it was not their fault) and I frankly think the Mondevelo stuffed up by putting L'Etape here instead of using the Stage 15 Verbier stage on the Tour Rest day, or the Stage 16 stage on the rest day, or the Stage 20 stage the day after the Tour's use. By putting L'Etape at Ventoux, people at the Tour would have had to drive to the Tour during the Stage 15 into Verbier (which many would have wanted to watch including us) – this drive is about 6-7 hours. Then after stuffing around with registering, you have to do L'Etape and get to the high French Alps for Stage 16 – a 6 hour drive after around 7 hours riding. Clearly they dropped the ball. I think the transfer arrangements are also completely schiesen.

Anyway, we blew off our accom (wasting $100each) and parked up at Bedoin the night. This meant we missed the official start but given the 9500 riders involved, it'd have been chaos anyway.

We bailed at 6AM for Maulacene (worth checking out), where we parked up.

We then rode in the cold to Nyons (also worth checking out), where we rode backwards through the streets – confusing everyone in the process. One gendarme sought to stop us but fortunately a motorist got his attention and we blew off, pulling off the road just out of Nyons into a lane to wait for guys to start coming through. After about 5 groups of serious looking riders had gone through, we snuck onto the road and we were off.

Hiding in a lane.

It was a truly excellent experience. Blocked roads, people cheering in the streets, splitting at roundabouts. The pace set was fairly cracking and Mike called it down so we had energy for the climb. The day was heating up and there was a lot of climbing ahead.

The ride was really nice, through some spectacular hills, lavendar fields, and beautiful villages. Provence is amazing.

It was all sh!ts and giggles for us.

We eventually hit the first climb which broke everyone up. People cracked almost immediately – why they headed out so hard was beyond me. 170km in the southern France heat is a long, long way. The ride had some decent climbs including a tough one into Sault. I took off on that one just to test the legs. Sault is a nice little village and everyone was out. I stopped for water but some dudes charged through (clearly serious about their time).

Mike caught up and we headed off again – even finding time for some tomfoolery.

Another climb came again and I blasted up it but then took some video. Mike kept going and I didn't see him again (about 50km out) as I kept stopping for photos etc.

We eventually rolled into Bedoin which was awesome, LOTS of people and a big food stop – oranges, sweet cake, water, gel packs, but no Coke! It was pretty hot on this side of the Ventoux. I stopped for fuel and to look for Michael, but he'd gone.

At this point I put my uphill music mix on (consisting of Propagandhi, Rise Against, Refused and some other hardcore stuff) and smashed out of town, chewing dudes up as we headed up hill. Some guys were in big, big trouble, and there was still 22km of some serious uphill to go.

My legs were suffering from the 2 ascents in the previous 2 days so I decided to conserve energy. The heat was pretty tough as we wound our way through the becalmed forests.

There were some broken souls on the road. On the bike, off the bike – all staring at their feet or off into the distance, contemplating goodness knows what. The carnage only got worse as I got higher, with guys walking, ambulances in attendence…after having spoken to a Brit earlier on the ride, I wondered how many of these Euro-kats had even done the Ventoux?

Anyway, I was in big trouble, I'd knocked down 4 orange slices in town and quickly moved through about 4 gel packs.

I promised myself never to do 2 HC climbs before a race HC again. Utter stupidity.

Anyway, I stopped at the Chalet Reynard for water and quickly continued so my legs didn't seize up. The final climb from the Chalet Reynard to Ventoux is about 6km of road varying between respite-providing switchbacks and plain, cruel “up”. At this point guys were really breaking apart – bodies were littered everywhere.

I pressed on, eventually reaching the top in a time about 40 mins slower than my first effort – 2'07” or so – this is with around 20mins of stopping on the ride, about 10 of that for photos on the Ventoux. I haven't checked the results yet but I think this probably cost me 900 or more spots which would put me well inside the top 300. I came around 1275th or something. Michael's time was about 2 mins slower than mine and he had Coke waiting – I was in big trouble as I was not breathing into my diaphragm so I was a bit asthma-y at the top.

We snapped off some photos and got off quickly, handing in our transponders at Mont Serein, getting our medals and cheers and then beginning the descent to Malaucene. The country on this side of the Ventoux is again spectacular. Prehistoric and dynamic. It was a lonnng, fast descent of around 25km and we happily arrived at the van, ate, drank, and prepared to head off to Bourg st Maurice to rejoin the tour.

The transition was not too hard – just up to BSM via the Autoroute and through a beautiful valley. We passed through this little town [photo], crossed a bridge and the terrain and plants changed from a very Mediterranean aspect to much more wind swept but wetter terrain. A very stark contrast across a bridge (I'm not joking).

We eventually got into Bourg St Maurice which is the typical ski town. Surrounded by towering Hautes-Alpes peaks and lights littering the hills, it was truly spectacular. I can't even remember what we did for dinner, I think it was pizza was SOS Pizza – very good, but, as with everything when you eat out in France, expensive in AUD$.

Photos of the transfer.

Grenoble.