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The climbs in the Tour de France were originally classified in hardness according to the equipment that the race organizer had to use to climb them in his car.
If I could get them up in fourth gear, they were classified in fourth category. If first gear was needed to climb them, they were classified as the most difficult or in the first category.
In 1979, a new category of Hors catégorie (out of category) was designated for those mountains that a car was not expected to lift.
Today, we were expected to lift two of those.
Since both Col de la Madeleine and the summit end of Col de la Loze took around an hour to climb, the plan was to simply stay safe and finish within the time limit, which proved quite difficult.
Near
Cycling – Tour de France – Stage 17 – Grenoble to Meribel Col De La Loze – France – September 16, 2020. The peloton in action REUTERS / Stephane Mahe
REUTERS
When you are speeding at 50 km / h at the beginning of a big mountain stage, you know it will be a difficult day.
When a big move that included 21 runners cleared after 24km we had Soren (Kragh Andersen) and Nikias (Arndt) on it, but the group broke down on an uncategorized climb about 5km later and Julian Alaphilippe, Gorka Izagirre, Richard Carapaz, yesterday the stage winner Lenny Kamna, and my cousin, Dan Martin, were the only ones left in front.
When I heard who was ahead, I knew it was a good break full of great climbers, but the peloton never allowed them enough time to stay clear of the finish line and ultimately ruined their chances.
When we reached the 17km-long Madeleine after 88km, they had six minutes, but their lead began to wane as the Bahrain McLaren team suddenly took the lead and picked up the pace for their Spanish team leader Mikel Landa in the mountain.
When dozens of cyclists shot out the back door, I found myself in a large group of about 50 passing overhead.
For the first time on any Tour, I’ve been using a 36 chainring for the past few days and, boy, am I glad about that today.
The first 130 km were identical to a stage of the recent Critérium du Dauphiné. As I climbed onto the Madeleine, I was wondering how the hell I had beaten it on a plate 39 a month ago.
Near
Irishman Sam Bennett, dressed in the best green sprinter’s jersey, celebrates on the podium after stage 17 of the Tour de France, along 107 kilometers from Grenoble to Meribel Col de la Loze. (Stuart Franklin / Pool via AP)
AP
On the descent we caught another group and after about 10km in the valley below we started climbing again as we headed towards the 20km routine to the end of the summit.
In the fractured middle part of the peloton, I had a lot of time to get to the finish line, so I wasn’t too stressed out and tried to take the last part a little easier instead of moving on like some of the other guys, but the last few 10 km were brutal.
While trying to carry my tired corpse slowly towards the end of the summit, my ego took a massive hit with about 4 km to go when a spectator on the side of the road turned to his friend and said, “Shit! Look at this guy, he looks like he should be retired! “Fortunately, his friend replied,” What? Are you stupid? That’s Nico Roche! “Which boosted my morale again.
I finally crossed the line in a scruffy group of six or eight riders, 28 minutes behind Colombian stage winner Miguel Ángel López.
Behind us, I knew our sprinter Cees (Bol) and Casper (Pedersen) were in the group, which also contained the Sam Bennett green jersey.
As the clock ticked off, we were a little concerned that they would cut down on time. In the end, they crossed the line a couple of minutes behind our group and lived to fight again tomorrow.
Fair play for Sam. For a non-climber, he had a tough battle, but he endured. Tomorrow, however, is likely to be the most difficult stage of this Tour de France, and that’s saying something after that. If you can get through tomorrow’s stage, you have a good chance of using it in Paris.
After today’s stage we had a 6km cycle to the famous Courcheval ski resort to the team bus.
Coming down the climb, the scenery was absolutely spectacular. It is a place that I would not mind visiting again, but maybe next time I will leave my bike at home.
Tour de France, Thursday live, Eurosport / TG4, 10.55
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