Friday 15th July: Blue Skies, very warm 18°C to 30°C
Malaucene: Time Trial Tour de France, Bourg St Andeol to La Caverne du Pont d’Arc
Accommodation: Apartment Maloc 10, Avenue de Verdun, Malaucene
Bourg St Andeol on the Rhone
Highlight today was watching Stage 13 of the Tour de France, the 37k time trial from Bourg St Andeol to La Caverne du Pont d'Arc on a beautiful warm summer’s day in Provence. Little did we know we would wake up to the tragedy in Nice when a truck driver killed 84 people.
A lazy breakfast of our own yoghurt and muesli after a late night getting back from Mont Ventoux. We had awoken to the terrible news that late last night, 84 people had been killed in the southern French city of Nice. A gunman at the wheel of a heavy truck ploughed into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day, July 14th, in what President Francois Hollande called an act of terrorism.
Bourg Saint Andeol Tour de France
Time Trial starting block
Ian and Graham at the start
Down the chute
Gendarmerie lined up
Time Trial crouch
Carrefours stand in the dust
Cuppa wine for lunch
Bulging muscles
Richie Porte
Van Garteren
Christopher Froome
At 9am we walk down to pick up our car and Graham’s drives us to Bourg St Andeol, a one hour scenic trip through pretty French countryside, to the start of the Tour de France time trial. At 37.5 kilometres, the first individual time trial in the 2016 Tour de France goes from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont-d'Arc. Once off the ramp, the riders climb up Côte de Bourg Saint-Andréol, a 6.9 km hill with an average gradient at 4.9%. Then comes a flat to rolling section of 16 kilometre before a 2.5 km drop takes them to a 10 km section that is completely flat. The last 3.3 kilometres of the course goes up at 4.9%.
We arrive in Bourg St Andeol, a pretty village on the Rhone, at 10am and after parking the car about 1k from the village, we find a spot for a coffee. Then we wander through the cyclist’s preparation area buzzing with bike mechanics and riders before walking over to the chute to watch the cyclists leave.
The 13th stage got underway under tightened security after riders had observed a minute's silence in tribute to the scores of victims of the Bastille Day attack in Nice. The riders leave in reverse order to the General Classification with Sam Bennett (Ireland) of Bora-Argon starting first at 10.05am. At first they leave at every two minute intervals then the faster riders leave at three minute intervals.
We go our separate ways, wandering up and down the streets of Bourg St Andeol, watching the time trial unfold from different locations in the heat of the day. Graham and Jenny enjoy lunch at a restaurant in the village while Ian and I find a spot for lunch under a tree with a cup of wine.
We wait to see the last 16 riders roll off the starting ramp with the likes of Richie Porte and Tejay van Garteren (BMC), Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Fabio Aru (Astana), Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) and yellow jersey Chris Froome (Team Sky), the last to leave at 4.39pm who is expected to finish at around 5:29 pm.
The winner was Tom Dumoulin (Nederlands) of Team Giant-Alpecin, who finished in 50 minutes and 15 seconds – one minute ahead of Froome. We wait for the presentation which again paid tribute to the Bastille Day tragedy in Nice before walking back to the car and driving home to Malaucene.
It’s 8pm when we arrive back to have a late dinner of pork fillet and salad with a beer and a wine. Bed at 10pm after a long day at the Tour de France time trial. Tomorrow we drive to Avignon to leave our car, which we strategically hired in Avignon, so that when we return, we could easily catch the TGV directly to Paris.