The Tour is in town!

What an entertaining Tour it has been so far!

Yesterday we all headed up the Col de La Croix de Fer and turned left for the summit of the Glandon. 

The idea was to position ourselves somewhere on the last kilometre of the Glandon climb to see the riders at a reasonable pace, hopefully strung out and maybe even suffering a little! We were not disappointed! 

The pros were not the only ones suffering; after two and a half months off the bike, I was relying heavily on 'muscle memory' to get me up the climb. It was soon evident that the muscles had long forgotten how to suffer (my backside had amnesia too!). A tough return after so long out of the saddle, but this is about one of my favourite climbs in the area so I was delighted to be plodding up it again!

There was a great atmosphere as usual. Lots of British and Australians in the crowds this year, some comedy costumes, camper vans and road painting - a show in itself even before the riders arrive!

The helicopters too added to the electric atmosphere, announcing the imminent arrival of the peloton by swooping up the climb and hovering above hairpins to get those great TV images. You know you've climbed some when the helicopters are below you!

Home to dinner and to watch the highlights on TV. We were all a bit disappointed to see that we had been edited out of the coverage!

Another great day in the Alps!

A few other photos in our gallery (click here).