Stage 7: Saint Etinne-de-Tinne to Nice
131km - 800m climbing Strava Link
It is all over bar the official prize giving and cocktails. I am in Nice with Leah, having safely made it out of the Alps before the rain came in. Another interesting day, made all the more exciting as for a while there I was unofficially 3rd for a while there, but in the end not to be...
The last day into Nice was always going to interesting and today had more interest than expected. Due to "expected" thunder storms later in the day, todays stage was shortened, and the 1,100m climb was taken out to get us all into Nice by 1pm. The result was a 65km neutralized, downhill ride, then 40km of timed which included an 800m altitude gain, then the timed section was off and basically it was a cruise into Nice.
The excitement for the day came in the form of the 40km timed section. I went hard, with another rider who also rides the same way i do, and we pushed it to our limits. It hurt, and i went harder than in the up hill time trail, well it felt that way. For a while there I was with the front guys, who seemed to come from nowhere. (There was a reason for their sudden appearance). It was fun, but in the end they spat me out and i had to keep pushing by myself until the next group rolled up, and i pushed on with them.
The excitement came after we had all rolled over the finish line and down the neutral downhill to Vence, and I checked the results. I thought I was fast, but was provisionally 3rd. Yes, hard to believe and alias, it was not to be. The top 20 had been sent the wrong way, hence why they came from nowhere, and they were given 6 minutes time for the error. My 3rd is now a 23rd, and I am happy with that. No podium today for me:( I did manage to put a 1min 20 sec into Ramon and Roberto. Payback felt good after Roberto really hurt me in the last km yesterday, and took 40 seconds out of me then.
A fun day, and another hard effort that was for sure. The stats for the day:
- 131km cycled
- 40 km timed
- 800m climbing
Timed section time: 1:19:39 for 23rd on the day.
Overall, the hard push today just sneaked me into the top 75, as I am now 74th. Roberto came in 54th, Nacho 70th and Ramon 91st. Ramon broke his chain yesterday, and lost a lot of time. In the end he got the flying wedge motorbike push up the hill. A motorbike in front, and then one on each side pushing him a long! Word on the street has it he was doing 60km/hr up the hill! Not sure on that but a good story.
So that was the day. A soft pedal into Nice, and along the promenade and happy to see Leah on the finish line. Tonight we have cocktails, the official giving and then we are going out for dinner with the 12 Mexicans. No doubt it will be amusing, need i say more
The event has been great fun, well run, and the Mexicans have made it even more fun.
Next, my final event for the season is the Crocodile Trophy. A 9 day race in October. As I have told people, and paid the entry, there is no backing out...
The small village where we stayed last night. after we found out the stage was shortened, we had a great dessert, and a bottle of wine.
Part of the neutralized section cut into the cliff. The finish line at the top of Col De Vence.
The team at the end...
The finishers medal and the unique jersey.
Enjoying the ride down the Nice promenade.
Roberto and I at the end.
Hello Leah:)