We didn't make it up to the Colle di Sestriere (the 6th checkpoint) as we were too hot and exhausted the previous evening and it would have now meant going back on ourselves, making an even tougher and longer day. As a result we effectively blew our chances of successfully claiming an official medal for completing the Alpine Raid. However, life is not all about medals and after all we were on holiday!
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| Comfortable night at the Hotel Chalet Casa, Cesana |
We awoke to crystal clear blue skies - it was evident it was going to be another scorcher. The Col de Montgenevre links Briancon in the upper Durance Valley in France with the Susa valley in Italy. It's featured on the tour ten times since 1949. It starts off quite steep at 8% and 9% for the first couple of kilometres and then eases off going through a long tunnel of several kilometres into Claviere- which was an official training site for 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. There was a strong military presence at the border- a sign of the state of high alert France is currently on.
Phil uncharacteristically faffed this morning and left his water bottles behind at the Hotel and had to go back for them so was a bit behind Chris and I when we stopped at the town of Montgenevre for coffee. He made up the time well and was first away for the descent.
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| Entrance to the Olympic training centre of Claviere |
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| Ski Jump Sculpture by the roadside in Clavier |
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| Chris near the top of the Col de Montgenevre- marked by the Oblesisk in the background erected in 1804 celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte |
The descent to the fortified Roman city of Briancon (the highest in France) is along a very busy road but the views across to the Ecrins range of mountains were stunning. Briancon is a very picturesque town and I recall exploring the town as a family when we camped up the road at Serre Chevalier in 1999.This time we skirted around its edges as we sought the road to Cervieres.
The Col d'Izoard (2360 metres) is a Tour de France icon and has been crossed on the Tour some 34 times since it's first appearance in 1922. This year, for the first time it featured as a summit finish. As soon as you leave Brinacon the road is quieter and starts to climb gradually at 4%, through forest up the lovely Cerveyrette valley to the village of Cervieres with the road at times almost touching the raging river. The next section gets serious as the road suddenly ramps up to 8% and 9% with vicious ramps of 20%. Out of the trees the landscape is barren and surreal. The summit has a lunar feel that defies comprehension. It is perforated with the sepia-coloured spires of Cargneule rock ( a yellowish-brown heavily deformed Dolomitic limestone). We stopped for a drink at the busy cafe frequented mainly by motor cyclists and cyclists and had our cards stamped (somewhat academic now).
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| The monument at the Col d'Izoard |
The very steep descent on the south side is through the
extraordinary Casse Desert, a barren mountain side with spiky rock pinnacles amid rocky scree. The Col d'Izoard was host to many great duels in the 1950s between the legendary Italian Fausto Coppi and the French great Louison Bobet and there is an easy to miss Coppi-Bobet monument a Km or so below the summit.
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| The Casse desert |
Phil sussed out a lunch stop for us near Chalp and I had a burger which was nice at the time but then proceeded to reverberate around my stomach all the way up the Col de Vars.
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| Burger for lunch with Cheddar Cheese! |
The next 20 Kilometres were all downhill with the road hugging the spectacular Guil gorge all the way down to Guillestre. And then bang, we were climbing again up to the Col de Vars (2108 metres). The temperature was well into the late 30s and my tyres were sticking to the tarmac. There was little shade and with my mouth dry and hands welded to the lever hoods with a mixture of sweat and energy gel, I had to keep reminding myself that I was on holiday and was supposed to be enjoying myself. I caught up with some Welsh lads also touring but with one of their wives driving a support vehicle with all their overnight kit (message to self noted!), They reported that Phil was only just ahead and they had witnessed him almost immersed in a stream cascading onto the roadside. A viewpoint provided a resting point with spectacular views back to the Barre d' Ecrins (4,102 metres) - the first ever 4,000 metre peak that I climbed back in 1999.
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| Bottom part of the Col de Vars looking back to the Barre d'Ecrins |
How I ever got up the Col de Vars I'll never know - I must have received help from on high (I know Sue was praying for me each day) - for it was one of the low points of the tour and indeed my endurance sport history. Chris, the white knight/angel was waiting for me at a cafe in Ste Marie. The stop, Oranginas (the soft drink of choice on this tour) and ice cold water in my Bidons seemed to spur me on and the last section through the Ski resort of the Station de Vars and the upper Change valley passed quite quickly and I finally made it to the summit (6523 out of 6599 cyclists on the Strava segment Col de Vars Guillestre - almost the lantern rouge!).
Fourteen miles of little pedalling in the shade of the Forest down to Jausiers saw another day ticked off and by the time the third beer had been consumed that evening the day didn't seem half as bad and the nightmare of an afternoon frying on the Cod de Vars was already a distant memory.
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