Etape du Tour Monday 11th July

So we're back in the Maurienne Valley for the big showdown, the 2011 Etape du Tour. After a mammoth 3 1/2 hour faff to get our bibs (why did 8000 riders have to go in 1600 bus journeys up to Valfrejus ski resort just to get our bibs?).

Monday morning was warm and still and you know when you know you are feeling good so after the 10km ride to the start I confess I was feeling much better than a week ago at the Marmotte start.

Rolling out of Mondane in the 4th group on the road, the 3 of us in this group, Miles Smart, Steve Seddon and me, were soon on the front and glad we'd done our home work on the roundabouts for the shallow descent down to St Michel, with the group blasting along at around 55km's an hour and managing to stay out of trouble.

With the sharp left hander onto the Telegraphe and onto the climb, feeling strong and cresting the Telegraphe summit in 1 hr 12 mins from Modane for the short descent to Valloire. The great thing about closed roads is being able to use the whole road on both the acsent and the descent. On the way up the kick from the sweet spot on the switch back bend is a great motivator, and the safety of descending on the whole of the road means that there is much less braking - I reached a top speed of 71kmh during the day.

Onto the Galibier and once through the initial steep section after Valloire, the push on to Plan Lachat is a great place to take liquid and gels before the road really ramps up after Plan Lachat. Passing Marco Pantani's memorial ( and also Simon Abrahams who usually passes me!) and a non existent water stop (did anyone else find it?) and on towards the tunnel entrance, (why did the route map suggest a summit of 2556m rather than 2645m - it looked like we were to use the tunnel!) for the final ramp up to the summit in 2 hrs 42m from Modane. With the road re-surfaced for the Tour de France in the last couple of weeks the technical section from the summit to the tunnel exit is now much more rider friendly and after my Morzine incident, putting this to the back of my mind, and my target of sub 5 hours was definitely on. I only got over taken by one guy on the technical section down to the Col de Lauteret  and must have overtaken 30+.

Descending from the Lauteret is critical to get in a good group with the headwind,and with about 15 of us together through the tunnels , it was much safer being on the front. Over the dam and left onto the Bourg D'Oisans round the sweeping descent continues until a brief kick up through a tunnel. I quickly realised that I was off the front of the group, comparing to dropping off the back on this section during the Marmotte just a week  ago.  I opted to push on alone and using the full width of the road and using the smooth centre line pretty much all the way of the final flat section into Bourg.

With the 5 hour target still in sight and a brief water stop at the foot of Alp D'Huez, I was beginning to think that with an hour and 20 mins to get up the Alp that I just had to keep it steady........wrong! With the thermometer rising and the minutes ticking away the best solution was to use the whole off the road to get as much shade a possible. Suffering through Huez and onto the last 5 bends and managing a sprint up to the finishing line I'd managed to climb Alp D'Huez in 1 hour 17 mins and in a total time of 4 hrs 57 mins 2 secs.....result! Much happier than the Marmotte which I guess I have to put down to an off day.

Hats off to the 6461 finishers and anyone coming up Alp D'Huez in the 30 degrees + in the afternoon!

So now a brief rest before again setting off for Bour D'Oisans for the Tour de France next week and als start planning my attack on the Marmotte and Etape next year!