With no team and some nice European tours coming up I got in touch with the organization in Ardeche who were putting 2 mixed teams together. That sorted I then found flights were so expensive the trip was looking unlikely until my folks decided on yet another holiday and we drove down. Splitting it into 2 days made the journey more holidayish especially with some nice food in an Irish bar in Calais and a bargain smart hotel in Valance. Arriving first at their campsite and enjoying a quick dip in the pool and pain o chocolate (the only French I know so thought I’d better buy one!!) we headed over to our campsite. Our team consisted of 3 Brits and 2 French girls and we joined forces with the other mixed team making it a pretty sociable group. With a small static caravan for just two of us accommodation was very good, any race where you get your own room is luxury!
That evening we headed to the prologue, a 2.4km loop that was over quick enough to give you a real lung burner and for me not to lose too much time despite a position in the 60s.
The following day from La Pouzin was a pretty flat 112km day, seems odd to be given easy stages early on when everyone is fresh and we wouldn’t mind a few climbs to split up the usual nervous first day bunch. I attacked a few times and was in a few very short lived breaks but the race came down to a bunch sprint where I came in 16th, glad to survive as it was twisty and there are a number of Russians in the bunch who don’t seem to value their lives all that much! It was a good job it wasn’t too windy as the only jersey I was given was an extra large!
Day two was a split day, all be it only 100km of racing in total but out of the campsite from 6.30am until 9pm. At Val Les Bains we raced a 3.5km time trial, up and down a small mountain. Without turbos and with our flapping jerseys there was no time trail stress and I paced it pretty well and actually quite enjoyed the twisty descent. Surprised myself with 28th. After a long wait we started again at 3pm. The pace was flat out from the off up and down narrow roads and before long a break was away with all the major teams in. Having just missed it our group got bigger and the pace became very slow. Racing began again up a long 8km climb and feeling good I hung onto the pace set by HTC on the front. 3km from the top I was yo-yoing and just dropped off before the top. Luckily I was in the cars soon enough and with a little help from the convoy drafting and sprinting past to the next one before finally tagging back on to the group. Joining in the work to get to the finish I came in 16th, moving up to 21st on GC.
Day three and the legs felt like they were in a stage race and again eating at the venue meant we were out of the campsite pretty early. At least its good food, plenty of salad and fruit and not the usual soggy French pasta and green beans. We get a plastic tray with 5 different compartments, which is all good and well until you overfill one compartment or add a heavy peach on one side and it all gets pretty tricky to balance! Today was 127km with 3000m of climbing so all the compartments were pretty full! Along the valley on a false flat we averaged 43k an hour until a HTC and Garmin rider got away with a couple of others. That settled the group down and it felt like we crawled up the first cat climb to over a 1000m altitude. The pace up the next climb was again comfortable as I was well positioned at the front. Only on the descent to the last climb did I slip back and before I had chance to come through the attacks came and I was left fighting round riders. I ended up at the front of a group of 12 or so pretty annoyed that I’d felt so good all day and had missed the big move. To make for it I got away on the flat headwind with two others to the finish but just got caught 200m from the line by the group I was with. Still in 20th and up to 20th on GC.
The penultimate day from St Marcel D’Ardeche was 123km and the temperature by the time we started at 2pm was in the 30s. The first climb was up and along a huge gorge, scenic if you had time to look but I was going through a bad patch that lasted for about 80km!! It didn’t help that my spoke broke 2km in and I had to chase back. After drinking a ton I felt better by the third climb and at the top was just off the lead group, so in my usual position: not quite strong enough for the first 20 but ahead of the next group. I was pleased to be there as I had a free run down a very tricky descent and caught the front group at the bottom. With 5 girls up the road and 2 at 5min 30 Emma Pooley’s lead was in danger. Feeling good at last I helped both her and Ashleigh from the other mixed team who was in 2nd overall for the last 30 odd km, bringing the three back and the leaders down to 3 and a bit minutes with some pretty shattering through and offs!! They both thought I worked for them when really I just wanted to get back to the campsite and jump in the pool before it closed! Managed that with the British Rapha team, seeing all 7 foot of Rene launching off one of the slides made all the effort worthwhile!!
The final day was only 72km but with another 3 climbs was never going to be easy. The theme song from Chariots of Fire on the start line obviously acted as some inspiration to some riders as the pace was fast from the off and soon a group was away. I jumped across with two others and it was soon back together. The main climb was my worst… long, open, hot, not steep just a long, long drag. I blew and crawled past mam, dad and a small group of Brits 1 km from the top but luckily tagged onto 4 others. We were all keen to bridge back so all worked when we could. 30km later down steep gravelly descents, up nasty short climbs and through tiny villages we finally came back to the cars and tagged onto the main field of 20 or so right at the bottom of a steep 3km GPM. I rode my own pace. The leaders blew the field apart and dribs and drabs arrived at the finish 10 km later. I came in pleased again for the good work out and glad the next group didn’t sweep us up.
My overall position was 18th probably the best finish in a tour full of big climbs and top riders thanks to some good training over the summer back home and a needed break from racing.
Sorry for the long blog… 9 hours in the car is a pretty long way!
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| Enjoying the time trial! |
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| My team mates |
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| Cooling off in a fountain!! |
