Haute Route Pyrenees, stage 1. A genuine surprise.

So two days in a row and the internet is not too sharp. So attempting to write up the first stage of the pyrenees now (tuesday (I think, I have lost count)).

After a four hour drive to Montpellier, then another three hours Sunday early morning we arrive in Barcelona. All seem well, they have a much larger area for registration and bib collection. The atmosphere also seems nice and chilled, these are all good signs after the stress fest from the Alps. I spend the rest of the day trying to ice the knee, and staying sat down.

We had a late start for the first stage of the Pyrenees route as we had to transfer a couple of hours to the official start line. Arriving there I can still feel a much less edgy and chilled air about the place. You can also notice less people too, so hopefully more room in the group. I have found a good coffee shop with nice toilets (that is the deciding factor to make it a good shop). With twenty minutes till the start of the race I squeeze in 3 wee’s. pretty standard, always a good sign I have hydrated well.

So we have in stage one a nice short stage, though I thought this would not suit me too well as I like the longer ones where I tend to be better on the final climb where everyone is sitting well in misery corner. The first climb turns out to not really be a climb, more of a long long drag with a few slightly steeper steps. I am roaming the position of 20-40 in the group. where it gets fast I get the fear and drop back and when it steps up I move forward. No real selection is made and we descend a few k’s. As I was not at the front I cannot be sure but I believe a group of around 8-10 get away. So I start the second climb which is a genuine climb with around 7% as its average in possibly the second group. For one some reason I am struggling to hang on this group, I am feeling bad for not helping with the pace setting but I really was in a world of problems. minute after minute I am getting dropped by a few meters then back on, yoyoing for most the climb. We eventually start to see the lead group which is now down to five riders. We are catching them steadily and once we join them we have 3k to the summit where the time is off.

Things start to feel better in the legs and knee, but I still feel I am the weakest in the group. The timing mat is spotted and there is a big sprint for it. I clearly am no sprinter and on this day I was not ready to learn, I trundle in a distant last but happy to have just been pretty close in the lead group. We eat and fill our bottles and then start the descent and the valley which is all un-timed. I was hoping we would stop to wee before the final climb where the times goes back on but the guys plough straight through. I am towards the back expecting the usual hard start, I am not disappointed. Off we go, a few people and I am scrabbling to get across the gaps as I want to find some shelter. Five minutes in and I am still playing the yoyo game. This could be a long climb. We are getting towards the final 5k, as if by magic there is the marker. A minute later my new team mate has a go off the front on a little steep bit. He has 30m, then 40 and then getting near to 100m. One of the guys tries to chase, then very quickly waves the rest of us round. People sit up, Nicolas is getting further away. The same guy then does a bit of chasing and waves people round again, this time the guy in front of me does 20 seconds then signals me to come through. I am not sure why but I just thought “sod it, if I am going to work why not make it real hard”. So I give it a good chunk of beans, as if by luck we were coming to a “flatter” section, may be 4%. This is where my belly does not hinder me as much so I keep ploughing down the hurt. I can see I am making dents into the lead ahead of me, I decide to bite the bullet and see who is still on my wheel. No one, they are a good 40m back. Right, now if I sit up I look like an idiot so I have to push on.

I am starting to really puff now, standing for long periods trying to work the left leg as much as possible. The right knee is sore but no more than doing 100 watts less. What seems like ages, but is more like three minutes I get on Nicolas’s wheel. He is shouting “allez” to me. which I presumed meant go through to do some work. I was on the edge myself, I respond with, “give me a second”. I’m sure he did not understand. I catch my breath then get on the front thinking we can take some good time out of these guys behind as I am sure they would not be working well together. I am really pushing on and see we are indeed a decent way apart. I start to think me or Nicolas will win the stage depending on our time differences from the first section. I wave him through as I am starting to blow but he does not come through, I do some more work and ask him again, this time he does a minute or so. I then take the front with 1k to go and really nail it, I did not know until I turn into the final turn but I have a tiny gap, So I get on the drops and smash the hammer down for the final 300m. and its done. That was rather more hurty than I wanted but I think there is a tiny chance I could have won the stage, then I think “oh god, could be leaders jersey”.... not sure I want everyone looking at me. Oh well, we will wait for results.

In the end I have the leaders jersey by 6 seconds, our team are also winning the team event. Jobs a good un! Very surprised I was strong at the end of such a short stage, if the knee stays “ok”, I could be in a decent position in a few days.