Stage Distance: 118km
Total Distance: 3004km
Stage 19 was in my opinion the real “killer” stage of the tour with two HC climbs at the start followed by a Cat 2 and ending with two Cat 1 climbs. The fact that the two HC climbs in question were on their own “tour classics” did nothing to allay my fears. As was pointed out to me afterwards by many more seasoned riders, many amateur cyclists would make a holiday riding the Col du Glandon one day and the Col de la Madeleine the next. If they did l’Alpe d’Huez as a third day they were doing well. We were to tackle both Cols in one day, the day after doing l’Alpe twice.
Afterwards I would have to take these words to heart, as today’s stage was too tough for me in the end. I completed both Cols, slowly but quite happily. However, the 11km descent following the Madeleine proved too much for me, or more correctly my back. Still suffering from my crash my back has been in constant but manageable pain. Being slow at descending now, the long descent from the Madeleine meant almost an hour on the drops and when I got onto the flats my back ached, I couldn’t sit straight and more importantly found that I couldn’t exert any real pressure in my pedal strokes. I coped OK on relatively flat terrain but as soon as I hot any small rise I found myself struggling.
I had already been caught by the back van and when he drew alongside and asked if I was OK I knew that this time the answer was no. I pulled over and let him load my bike once again into the back of the van. I was even more disappointed with myself to have given up again. However, I knew deep down that this time, no matter how much I pushed myself on I wasn’t going to make the end of the stage. As it happens, I wasn’t wrong as several riders did not make the cut-off for the final climb and were diverted straight to the hotel. This didn’t make me feel any better however, that took the support of fellow riders who made me understand that what I had achieved was more important than what I hadn’t.
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