Vinadio, Italy to Valdeblore, France
Strava (to lunch only): 43.66 km, 1,483m, 3:01, 116 shifts, max speed 75.4 kph
It seemed like a great morning. We could wake up half an hour late due to breakfast not starting until 7:30. When I looked out the window the weather was perfect. And I felt pretty good. After breakfast we started out at 8:45, with a 1 km warm-up, descending to the road up the famous Colle della Lombarda, a 2,347m high pass that’s been included in the Tour de France as an HC (beyond categorization) climb and has also been included in the Giro d’Italia. The climb is almost 1,500m in 22 km.
The climb was never too steep but the first 800m of it was consistent, around 9-10%. After we got going, I wasn’t feeling great, couldn’t breathe properly, but kept at it. A bunch of us stopped halfway, but I wasn’t watching the stats and thought it was maybe a third of the way. I got energized finding out we were half done. I had a banana and lots of water. A little later we stopped at a beautiful fountain with fresh mountain water to refill. I talked to a local cyclist who was really proud of his region and this pass in particular.
The second half was a little easier with a couple of sections of less steep riding. At the end the angle eased off and it was quite nice. I caught up to Louis and Carien for that section and we got to the top together. My time was 2:38:45 from the hotel, probably the slowest person as I was really not feeling well. I hiked up a little from the pass (which was crawling with motorcyclists) and took a photo at the giant ibex we had seen from far down the hill.
After more food and water it was time to blast down. It was quite warm so no need for more clothes. The top part had lots of switchbacks, very steep and sharp. There was one straight section where I could let the bike do its thing for a while, then I got to Isola 2000, a ski area at 2,000m. From there we’d been told the road was steep and straight but actually there were straight-ish sections with lots and lots of very sharp and steep pairs of switchbacks and I had to really brake a lot. There were some exciting tunnels – exciting if you don’t take off your glasses or touch your brakes!
We knew that the famous bike racing team UAE Team Emirates XRG was doing its high altitude pre-Tour de France training based in Isola 2000, so we were all on the lookout for their jerseys as we descended. Right as I pulled into the lower town of Isola I spied one of their team cars with some great looking bikes on the roof. I saw one of their riders by a café as I headed through town but didn’t stop as I was heading to lunch, just below. Several of our riders did stop and got to see a number of the team members including their most famous guy, Slovenian Tadej Pogačar. Tom asked for a selfie with him but was denied. Nina got to watch him wheelie down the road and sat next to him for a while at the café. She said it was the most exciting thing ever. Curt shot the best photo that I saw – Nina was ready to pay any amount for it, but in the end he graciously posted it on WhatsApp for everyone to enjoy.
Lunch was at the bottom of the town, in a place where Bike Dreams has lunch on various tours. Lex said he’s eaten there 4-5 times. Hans served up his usual masterpiece and we ate in the shade, right next to the Land Rover with Monaco plates that Nina swore was owned by another famous UAE Team member, Adam Yates. Unfortunately I was coughing and quite weak, even after an uplifting descent. I decided to bail on the afternoon session even though it was short. I wanted to avoid breathing hard on the final 600m climb to the hotel. So after everyone left, Hans and I started a nice drive down the river, then up steeply to the little village of Valdeblore. We actually missed the turn so got to have a more extended scenic tour of the area. We passed the last few riders on their way up the steep, hot, winding road. Then we arrived and had soup with red-faced riders.
We don’t all fit in the one hotel in town so about half the people are spread in three more hotels five km up the hill – Wilbert and Hans shuttled them after soup and snacks. Curt and I ended up in the garden across the street from the hotel with a bunch of the others staying in Hotel Valdeblore, sipping beers in the shade. We decided that everywhere should have a beer garden, and if that were implemented, the world would be a much better place.
I relaxed a bit in the afternoon then we all had a long, loud dinner at 19:30. It was cold veggie pasta salad followed by a main course of polenta with fish & veggies for the non-meat eaters and with some kind of curried meat for most people. Delicious ice-cream for dessert. While looking at the profile for tomorrow’s big ride back to Italy ending in San Remo, based on how I felt, I booked a ride with Hans in the lunch van for the morning. That way I can ride ~70 km of mostly downhill to our final city of this tour.
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