Stage Eleven done

As Stato indicated this was a relatively easy stage. My group of three went along nicely at 25kph and were done by 4:30pm. Again lovely countryside including our first opportunity to ride through Sun Flower fields. I just love the sight.

No dramas today. Everyone made the hotel by 6pm. It is a strange thing to dismiss 100 miles of riding as a casual day! After the rest day people had energy and motivation to get the day ticked off.

Toulouse is like so many cities, big, busy and difficult to navigate. In the evening 30 new riders joined us at dinner for the Pyrenees stages. Tomorrow there will be 90 cyclists on the road. Dinner was a first class salad - well by Tony’s standards, in other words simple. Followed by pizza and then a vanilla desert.

Tomorrow is a long ride in to 2 big mountains - probably a 10 - 11 hour stage for many of us. The climbs are two of the famous Pyrenees: Col de Peyresourde and Hourquette d’Ancizan. A ride for us of 212km from our hotel. It will be hot but we go up higher to over 1600m so the air should cool down a bit.

We are now more than half way and we have completed more than half of the metres of climbing. It is not quite all down hill from here!

A joke I heard today: What cheese do you need to hide a horse? Mascarpone. Made me laugh in the hot afternoon sun.

Off to sleep now.



Comments

Wife said…
Anne Marie & Bill enjoying the blog. They’ve been to Albi. And they’ve been to Toulouse. Lots of love from them both. Keep pedalling!
Anonymous said…
Very famous climbs! Hope the cooler air helps the climbing. I heard Peter Sagan's interview yesterday after winning the sprint finish, and he summed up how he felt as "exquisite". Apart from the fact that this was the longest word in English ever to be uttered by Sagan, I hope that you have an "exquisite" day.
Wife said…
LindaB - it is dreaded Stage 6 today, the one where Tony was taken of the road by the organisers. The Guardian says the riders describe it “toughest stage of the Tour”. We will see how they do? Anything must be better than that Stage Tony? Another message of support - this time from the Pia family x
Anonymous said…
Wife - did you watch the TV coverage of Stage 6? Brutal indeed - Julien Alaphilippe collapsed into the barrier just over the finish line, and poor Romain Bardet lost all hope of coming back from his lower ranking. So tremendously impressed by Tony's whole Tour undertaking given that the pros are toppling over.

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