Well the last couple of days have been a pleasant surprise. I was expecting to be going quite well here, and was already quite happy with my showing in the first few stages, but climbing the Ventoux with the best wasn’t on my list of goals… I was obviously intending to give it my all as that’s what my Dauphine is all about, ride myself into the ground and then recover stronger so I’ll be tip-top for the Tour, but I seem to be getting better and better.
I haven’t felt like this on a bike in years. Normally the day after a long TT I can feel the effects, but yesterday’s Ventoux stage was quite the opposite — I felt incredibly strong and smooth. The Ventoux comprises three parts. The first is the 5km windy lower slopes through the vineyards, we went really hard up here so it was already in pieces when we turned the switchback onto the beast 10km of 10% gradient section. Basically it was every man for himself immediately here — Liquigas and Astana were the best represented and launched off the first attacks. It was at this point I was, in all honesty, wondering what was going on… I was at ease and in complete control, not feelings I normally associate with the Ventoux.
This carried on for the next 8km, then finally when Gesink launched his final big attack I had to let them go — my feelings of complete control and ease were replaced with the suffering and slowing down of time that I normally associate with the Ventoux. I had the final 2km of the beast section to go before hitting the third and final section, which is 5km long and very open and windy.
I was lucky in that I had Igor Anton from Euskatel catch me with Astarloza his teammate; and Anton was on a mission to catch back up to the front so I dug deep and hung onto them. Fortunately for us it was block headwind those final kilometres meaning that the front guys were stop starting as none of them wanted to take the lead into the headwind and risk getting attacked nearer the top. So we got back on with about 3km to go.
This was absolutely perfect as I knew Nicole (fiancé) and Frances (sister) were around this area waiting to cheer me on… they’d ridden up earlier in the day. Although I was close to experiencing an out of body experience at this point of the climb I was still able to hear and see them going ABSOLUTELY BANANAS at the side of the road! I can still picture their faces of absolute shock and joy as they realized I was in the front group on the Ventoux.
Made my day that did.
They were widely recognized as the best supporters of professional cyclists on the whole of the Ventoux, cheering for everybody as they passed, in what Michael Barry described as a ‘fervent’ manner. One must understand their cheering comprises of MEGA-decibel screams, with jumping up and down and the Scottish flag waving. Nicole was not christened ‘Psycho Fan’ at the Giro last year by my teammates for nothing! Although they were not alone in cheering they were certainly the only supporters on the mountain to actually receive an ovation from the other supporters around them once the last rider had passed signaling the end of the race at that particular point of the mountain. Love their work.
As for me I had two more kilometres to go, a few hundred metres later I passed the Tommy Simpson memorial, a place where in my younger years I would be passing at a much slower speed and wearing only a cloth cap which I would remove to pay my respects. This time was different, I was actually in the race and suffering immensely, passing that point gave me extra strength and perspective to the little left I had to climb. Passing the line 11th was very gratifying.
Today on the other hand I was a little tired, not quite as chipper as I was yesterday. I was still good enough when it was crunch time, so clearly my form isn’t flash-in-the-pan stuff. Tomorrow is the big day though — three mountains has not been my cup of tea in the past, we’ll see tomorrow if that’s changed or not…
