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I’m scripting this report on what it was like on the much-anticipated queen stage of the Tour de France Femmes from the again seat of our rental automobile as we drive down the Col du Tourmalet in pitch-black darkness. The beginning of the day was a far cry from the frenetic conclusion – with its heated GC battle and the paranormal contact added by mom nature – because it all started with a lie-in and relaxed morning due to the very late begin to stage 7.
Finally, nonetheless, my Cyclingnews colleague Kirsten Frattini, Biking Weekly’s Tom Davidson, and I drove to Lannemezan. The small city on the foothills of the Pyrénées was stuffed to the brim by the Tour circus of technical crews, the commercial caravan, spectators who needed to drink within the ambiance of a stage begin, media, and naturally the riders and groups themselves. Accredited autos have been parked virtually wherever there was any house.
We bought takeaway pizzas for a late lunch, and I went again to our automobile, sitting down within the shade of a tree to eat my meal. Whereas there, the Movistar staff bus and automobiles drove via at velocity as in the event that they have been carrying royalty – which, within the biking world, they form of have been.
When my colleagues had completed their scheduled interviews – keep tuned to search out out who they talked to – we made our method south from the beginning city in the direction of Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Sainte-Marie-de-Campan the place the Tourmalet climb began. Appreciating the automobile’s air-con after the sweltering warmth of Lannemezan, we handed a number of cyclists who have been clearly additionally on their option to see the race.
Turning onto the race route on the foot of the Col du Tourmalet, we have been blown away by the crowds. The highway via the small mountain village was filled with spectators despite the fact that the race was nonetheless hours away. For the French individuals, this race isn’t the Tour de France Femmes – it’s merely the Tour de France and so they got here out in power to help the race.
The primary 5 kilometres, rising step by step alongside the valley above the city, have been much less crowded, however as soon as the gradient kicked up there have been spectators all over the place. Some had walked up a couple of kilometres, others had pushed up in campers the night time earlier than, together with many cycling-crazed Belgian and Dutch followers. Waving and honking, we drove additional and additional up, passing cyclists who took the possibility to climb the Tourmalet on race day.
One such group of cyclists have been the younger French women and girls of “Elles arrivent” who’ve been using on the route forward of the race every day since Clermont-Ferrand and have been now on their method up the Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet of their hanging blue equipment.
Into the mist
Finally, we entered the shroud of mist that hung over the Pyrénées this race day, making visibility extraordinarily restricted. Passing via avalanche safety galleries, we reached the resort city of La Mongie and the press centre for the day. Having volunteered for the job of going to the end to gather quotes from the riders, I used to be quickly on my method once more, completely satisfied that the mist obscured the very restricted Nineteen Seventies concrete allure of La Mongie.
Having rigorously packed my rucksack with every little thing I would want at 2115 metres (and fairly a couple of issues I didn’t want, it turned out), I confronted a 20-minute stroll to the chairlift that will take me to the Col du Tourmalet. And since this stroll wasn’t on the primary highway, I quickly left the bustle of La Mongie behind.
Strolling via the mist alongside the L’Adour du Tourmalet mountain stream, I felt virtually meditative, as if I used to be on their lonesome on this mountain world – which in flip made me fear whether or not I used to be strolling in the proper course. Finally, I noticed a couple of individuals who confirmed I used to be on the proper path and after listening to cowbells via the mist, and strolling previous the cows they have been connected to, I might lastly make out the hum of the chairlift.
For somebody not precisely comfy with heights, this wasn’t one thing I had been trying ahead to – particularly for the reason that race organisation had been utilizing the time period cable automobile as a substitute. However wants should, and a translation error wasn’t going to place me off. On this case, the mist helped since I couldn’t see a lot anyway.
Lastly, the primary highway to the Tourmalet move got here into view under me, obstacles, spectators, messages on the highway and all, 400 metres from the end. I glided over the highway as soon as extra on its remaining hairpins earlier than exiting the chairlift and strolling downhill to the end.
Finding the press space and people of my colleagues who had additionally gone to the end, some by automobile, some by chairlift like me, and others strolling up all the way in which from La Mongie, discussions quickly began in regards to the race. Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM), Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar), and Demi Vollering (Workforce SD Worx) had left the remainder of the peloton behind and have been steadily using in the direction of the Col d’Aspin the place Niewiadoma received the mountain dash earlier than throwing herself down the descent.
Vollering, it transpired, instructed Van Vleuten that she wasn’t going to work to deliver the Polish climber again, and Van Vleuten known as the bluff and sat up, too. Opinions within the press corps have been divided on whether or not Niewiadoma had an opportunity to complete solo or not, however what everybody might agree on was that her transfer was stuffed with panache, completely matching the “Allez Allez Allez” on the again of her jersey.
When Van Vleuten and Vollering have been caught by the group behind, Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) took over the chase on these first 5 kilometres of the climb. When the Swiss champion swung off 12.2 km from the highest, Niewiadoma was solely eight seconds forward, however as there was no person else who needed to maintain the tempo excessive, the Polish rider’s hole went out once more.
The hole was 44 seconds when Juliette Labous (Workforce DSM-Firmenich) accelerated 9.3 kilometres from the end, a transfer that was rapidly recognised by the press corps as a bid to distance different GC top-10 contenders. When Vollering attacked, rapidly passing Niewiadoma, I mentioned that Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) may maintain on to the mountain jersey – however I used to be rapidly corrected because it was identified that Niewiadoma solely wanted to complete within the high three to take the polka-dots.
I assumed this unlikely as she had been on the assault for a while and would certainly get handed by different riders as nicely; however because it was, Niewiadoma completed second on the stage to take the polka-dots and the purple quantity for essentially the most combative rider. Sorry, Kasia, I shouldn’t have doubted you.
A day to face out in historical past
Right here on the high, the mist wasn’t a mist, however merely a cloud, and it wasn’t raining as such, it was only a bit moist. Drops of water rapidly adorned everybody’s hair, and I carried out most of my interviews with my glasses being partially fogged up because of the mixture of the climate and a facemask, sending audio information down the mountain to the Cyclingnews blimp in a steady stream.
Whereas Vollering was getting nearer to the end, using to the stage win and yellow jersey, a fast stroll throughout the highway took me to the port-a-loos after which to the restaurant the place I purchased a can of Orangina, the wonderful French carbonated beverage that has fuelled my Tour de France Femmes reporting.
On the way in which again, I simply had time to take snapshots of the monument to Jacques Goddet and Le Géant, the statue of a rider climbing the Tourmalet “en danseuse”, out of the saddle and looking out up in the direction of the end, earlier than heading again to the combined zone simply across the nook from the end.
After crossing the road, Vollering was instantly whisked off to do her stage winner’s duties, so I solely noticed her a lot later when she went via the combined zone after the rostrum presentation. The identical was true for Niewiadoma; the primary rider I set eyes on was world champion Van Vleuten.
It hadn’t been an excellent day for the defending Tour de France Femmes champion, and her sports activities director Jorge Sanz gave her a heartfelt hug earlier than the Movistar press officer handed her a bottle of orange juice and she or he started answering questions, a huddle of cameras and microphones instantly forming round her. The orange juice was rapidly gulped down between solutions and changed by what seemed like a vegetable smoothie that went the identical method simply as quick.
Different riders arrived on the high in ones and twos, the time gaps being measured in minutes after a tough stage. Workforce employees members took care of them, organising turbo trainers for warm-downs, handing out restoration drinks, towels, and jackets, and in some circumstances taking photographs to recollect a day that can stand out in girls’s biking historical past in no small half because of the heroic, black-and-white character the mist gave the race. Riders continued to look seemingly out of nowhere to be cheered on by the crowds, whether or not they have been stage winner Vollering or lanterne rouge Marjolein van’t Geloof (Human Powered Well being).
With all interviews completed and the crowds dispersing, it was time for me to go down the mountain once more. I wasn’t precisely trying ahead to this 4.5-kilometre hike, particularly because it was rapidly getting darkish and the final dampness had been changed by precise rain. However I hadn’t even made it to the 50-metre signal earlier than a automobile stopped, recognising the thumb I had stretched out extra as a result of that’s a factor you do when strolling down a highway than within the real hope I’d be capable to hitch a trip. I bought into the automobile of a French couple and their teenage daughter who agreed to take me again to La Mongie.
Once I requested them in my damaged French whether or not they have been from the realm, they replied that they weren’t. They have been from Normandie and had pushed right down to the Pyrénées on Friday so as to have the ability to see the race on essentially the most iconic climb of the Pyrénées, if not all of France. And after I requested whether or not they’d be in Pau for the ending time trial, they mentioned they’d as a substitute drive again residence on Sunday. That’s the dedication that the Tour de France – males’s or girls’s – lives and thrives on. I hope that this present day was only a starting and that the Tour de France Femmes will go to many extra iconic climbs sooner quite than later.