Todays schedule (Pré-Saint-Didier to Hautluce): The day begins with a steady 23.5 km climb to Col de Petit St. Bernard (2.188m). The exact mountain where Contador and the Schleck brothers dropped Andres Klöden on stage 17 of the 2009 Tour de France.
Fränk Schleck winning stage 17 of the 2009 Tour de France
This is the southern end of the Mont Blanc massif and there are superb views of the high mountains ascending Cormet de Roseland (1.968m) – a tough climb where Miguel Indurain ‘bonked’ during the 1996 Tour de France, ending his chance of a record sixth consecutive victory. A long, fast descent past the turquoise Lac de Roseland and through pine forests ends in Beaufort. The final climb brings us to the village of Hautluce, where we’ll stay for the night after a good 105k work out.
Todays route
So we started todays ride in Le Thuile, and without much of a warm up we went straight up the legendary Col de Petit st. Bernard. It is really not that ‘petit’ and as tough as its older brother we climbed yesterday.
Profile, Col de Petit st. Bernard
On the summit of Col de Petit st. Bernard
Some snow on the top as you can see, but really not that cold, though nice to get back down again. Next challenge; Cormet de Roselend. perhaps my favourite climb of this trip. So nice and peaceful (in the bottom anyways, where you ride through the forest), though 20.3 k avg 6%, it is bloody hard work!
Cormet de Roselend. It starts with a nasty bit in the woods, then an even nastier open bit where you are fighting the wind as well
Summit Cormet de Roselend
The descent to Beaufort past de Lac de Roseland was stunning, though I nearly ‘bonked’ on the final climb up to Hauteluce. A lesson learned, I guess. Don’t ever underestimate the importance of eating and drinking when climbing in the heat. Ok, it seems obvious, but quite easy to forget actually. I was lucky to have the service car nearby and a coke and 2 energybars got me up the last bit…
Beaufort pitstop
Arriving in the hotel in Hautluce. Flying scotsman Ron is suffering!
Filed under: Uncategorized
