Haute Route Pyrenees: Day 4

Angeles-Gazost to Pla D'Adet
97km, 3600m
Ribs/GD + TL/Buster

The day in red.

It got real. The Pro protected the Le Directeur over the 3 big cols. The 4th liner demonstrated he’s been here before and knows how to get the job done. The rookie had his eyes opened. 

Good highlight real from today gives a taste of what we experienced. 

Given Rib’s top 10 yesterday, we thought we should honour him by wearing Method red. Even in red, kits were still tight. Rolling at dawn to the start line.

Looking so good we made the front page of the Haute Route site.

Ribs and I started with the fast coral today. 7km roll to the bottom of one the most famous climbs in Europe - the Tourmalet. From our approach the ascent was 30km and over 1800m of elevation gain (3xCypress). Ribs and I narrowly avoided a crash in the rollout. About 8 riders went down a row in front of us. Hard left to avoid. Ribs may have ridden over someone. Show goes on.

We rode steady on the first climb. Awesome descent off Tourmalet. Fast and flowy. Straight onto Seymour elevation climb spread over 17km. Neutral descent (dangerous) and into the final climb that averaged 10% for 10km finishing on a mountain top. It was a baker and at times felt like riding into a hair blower. 

How one feels after 4 1/2 hours on a bike following Ribs.

And the expressions in this photo tells the story of how things went for the other TNA team (zoom in on Buster's mug). Welcome to a grand tour, Buster.

In Saint-Lary Soulan, a pretty ski town in the heart of the Pyrenees, for the next two nights. Tomorrow is the Queen’s stage. Most climbing we will do in a single day. Going to be another cracker. We've chosen to go 'free to fly' on tomorrow's stage. Every man for himself. See how that works out.