Pros: Bourg-Saint-Maurice Les Arcs to Alpe d’Huez, 175.5km, Mountains

Me: 58.5km, 20/10/20/20m SST, 7m RI

The last of the big days in the Alps for the pros with a mythical finish atop Alpe d’Huez. Lots more sub-threshold intervals for me. I really wasn’t looking forward to this at all as I was pretty tired from the last two days of intervals. Going to bed at 2am after watching the stage, followed by waking at 7.30am for work conference calls, meant I didn’t get much rest/recovery either.

I put if off for as long as possible, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. The first 2-3minutes of each interval were a bit of a struggle to maintain the power, but then the legs remembered what to do and it was OK from then until the last couple of minutes, which were hard work mainly as my lower back was getting tired/tight. Glad that’s over and I’m looking forward to some easy sprint stages.

The hardest part of the Tour is finished for me. There are still intervals next week when the pros hit the Pyrenees, but not the same volume as required in the Alps. My fatigue will still increase, simply from riding every day (and because I was starting from such a low fitness base), but the worst of it is done.