With two ascents of the iconic Mont Ventoux ahead of us today, my team went to the line this morning with the aim of getting myself or Mike Woods into the breakaway. My day got off to a bad start when I lost a bottle in the neutral zone and had to go back to the team car for a new one, which meant I was at the very back when racing began.
On the downhill, I hit a big hole and my gears went into safety mode, which meant I was stuck on the biggest gear on my bike for about 10 minutes until I figured out how to fix it, which is a hard thing to do when you’re trying to get up the road at the same time.
After trying a couple of times, I got clear with four others and we got across to Alaphilippe shortly after the intermediate sprint at Les Imberts after 40km, and 3km later I went over the top of the Côte de Gordes in second place behind him.
Unfortunately, I then hit another hole and my saddle tipped downwards which saw me forced into a weird position for half the stage.
While it was nice to be in a small breakaway because you get such a reaction from the people on the side of the road, I knew it would be hard for four of us to stay clear for another 160km.
Behind us, a 12-man chase group were coming across the gap from the peloton. As they were just over a minute back, I wanted to wait for them, but the problem was the peloton were only a minute and a half behind them so nobody wanted to take the risk of waiting for the group and maybe being caught altogether.
The intense start combined with the 30-degree temperature left me panting on the first category Col de la Liguière after 75km.
The pace had been so high that we couldn’t get bottles for the first hour and a half so I hadn’t drank enough and was starting to suffer badly in the heat, which is not like me.
Once the team car got in behind us, I doused myself in water to try and cool my core temperature down as much as possible.
As the chase group closed in to just 45 seconds behind us, I took the 10 points on offer at the top but I was fighting a losing battle. I just didn’t feel right at all and was suffering already.
We got caught by the second group after about 100km, right at the bottom of the first 21km ascent up Mont Ventoux.
As soon as we started climbing, everyone starting attacking each other. Having already spent 70km out front with just four guys, I tried to take it as easy as I could but I was in a pretty bad state by then and my weird position saw my glutes go into a bit of a spasm as soon as the attacking started and my lights went out.
As the group rode away, I got a bike change and my new objective was to get to the top before the peloton, who were now five minutes behind me.
I just rode up at my own pace and tried to stretch out my glutes on the descent and waited for Mike and the rest of the peloton.
I waited with him and got him a bottle just before the second ascent of Ventoux and then just rode to the finish.
Unlike other days, today was a suffer-fest just to get to the finish. Having descended on my own the first time, being in a group the second time saw me hit 98kmh on the descent.
While I didn’t quite crack the hundred, it was still pretty scary, especially when you’re fatigued and not as alert as you could be.
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As Wout van Aert, one of the original chase group, soloed to stage victory up ahead, the race disintegrated behind him with groups all over the road. I crossed the line in a group of 20 riders, 24 minutes later.
The stars didn’t align for me today. What really affected me was the hike in temperature, which normally doesn’t happen.
I think a lot of really strong riders suffered today. Seven didn’t finish while Luke Rowe of Ineos missed the time cut.
I think everybody is going to be feeling the effects of today’s toil tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit quieter.
Tour de France, Live, Eurosport/TG4, 12.20