Stage 8, Le-Grand-Bornand - Tignes, 165 kms, Thurs 5th July

Mixed success today....no accelerated rest day, we went for it in the rain. Stage completed by Mark and Amy, but Matt called on the sag wagon on the slopes of the Cormet de Roseland. However, to put it into perspective, Matt carries 17st on his bike and he has just completed seven and half full (no time trials or rest days) back to back stages of the Tour de France. This is no mean achievement and I guess very few people have done it. Hats off.

The day began in the predicted heavy rain and cold. Fingers and feet were the issue and we descended from Le Grand Bornand in seriously hideous conditions with freight lorries zooming past in almost zero visibility spray.


The first stop at Faberges (or something) saw brighter conditions and Laura joined us for the next section to the Cat 1 Cormet de Roseland, after the Col de Tamie etc (Kyle sitting out due to understandable injury issues).

The 'Roseland' was tough, but not as tough as the Colombiere the evening before we concluded...it all depends on how many miles you have in your legs before you hit the slopes. Completely.

Fresh snow was lying at the summit height of 1950 metres or so, and the temperature was cold, but at least not raining.

The descent to Bourg St Maurice (on the route of many trips to Savoie ski resorts) saw almost sunny weather, but we knew we still had two more Cat 1 climbs to come...including the summit finish to Tignes at 2100 metres.


The first drag was acceptable, the second tougher as Mark and Amy arrived in very cold conditions at the finish at about 7.30pm, Mark riding to the finish with Amanda from the Axciom group, pictured at foot of page next to a Tour de France sign.



A hotel had been booked and we looked forward to rest days, 9 days now on the Tour de France route and the suffering was obvious, Matt has all sorts of issues and does Kyle, Amy got very cold on the finish this evening as legs tired and Mark's knees seem to be seizing up more easily. 12 stages to go ! So.......we are up to our chins I reckon, lets see if we sink or swim. Hot weather is now predicted (30 degrees), let's hope not too hot. Stats and Google Earth Link here (also now added to all the other pages).


For the stattos, here are some figures : There was over 5000 metres of climbing yesterday which is pretty extreme.

At the first rest day we have ridden over 1578 km's (980 miles) in 8 days. We have climbed 20,113 metres or almost 66,000 feet.

We have spent over 66 hours moving on the bike, and ignoring the prologue that is an everage of 8.5 hours a day of cycling and more time on top stopping for food etc.

Our average speed for all the stages including the prologue has been 14.5mph or 23.34kph. Last year the pro-riders averaged over 40kph for the whole thing. Time for a rest I think.

And Tone, thanks for you derriere advice...Matt has absorbed (maybe literally) and we will see what happens.




Image of route so far from Google Earth