Stage Distance: 46km
Total Distance: 3193km
The final day, we’d made it. Porto-Vecchio seemed a distant memory.
The day started with a final bus transfer to our start point, this time a goat farm outside Rambouillet where we were greeted by some friends and family that were going to ride the stage with us. We were starting here as due to the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris we were unable to ride the Champs Elysees. After a quick lunch we set off, the mood very jovial, much like the actual race on the final day.
We rode for a while reaching Versailles, the actual start of todays stage, where we had a feed stop and were greeted with more friends and family who had come out to support us. It was at this point that I managed to give thanks to the parents of Neil Kemp, who had followed us for the whole three weeks and been very supportive of us all. Hearing their cowbell ringing aloud was always an extra motivator to push that bit harder, or to keep pushing when you felt so tired.
We quickly moved on and the final section of ride began. One final ‘surprise’ climb out of Versailles was the only real challenge of the day and once again I lost those I had been riding with. Waiting at the top however was Trevor and I rode up to him to discover that he’d had a crash. Fortunately it wasn’t bad and we rode to catch up those ahead. We caught them just before we crossed into Paris itself. We all stopped at traffic lights and I noticed the sign marking the boundary of Paris. We’d made it, everyone was shaking hands, slapping backs and hugging. When the lights changed we pushed on.
As we approached the Eiffel Tower we saw Sarah directing us to stop by the van, which wasn’t allowed any closer. She gave us each a bottle of Champagne (or other such fizzy wine, I didn’t pay attention), which we placed precariously in our cycle top back pockets. Carefully we rode the last 100m to where everyone was celebrating. It was a joyous moment, such a great feeling to be there, to have made it. After the celebration Trevor, Chris and myself rode off to our hotel, commenting on the elation at what we had achieved but also the emptiness we felt that tomorrow we would not be out on our bikes.
At the hotel we celebrated again with some incredibly expensive beers, then got ready for the evening’s party.
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