Day 6, 27 June 2013, Aix en Provence to Montpellier, 176 km 1xcat 4 climb.
Matt finished in surprisingly good spirits, so they lubricated their bikes, did the washing then got ready for dinner and an early night. They will have a lie in tomorrow as breakfast is at 06:30 but it will be the hardest day so far as they will really ramp up their efforts to ride through the Pyrenees,
At 06:00.Mr Wates senior joined Nick and Matt’s table for breakfast and was unfortunately subjected to the appalling display provided by Nick trying to get enough food into himself as rapidly as possible before the start. Nick had fruit, a salami sandwich a cheese baguette, an egg sandwich, a bowl of cereals, a pancake with jam, and a large cup of coffee. Mr W was very understanding when Nick tried to explain his frenetic consumption whilst simultaneously stuffing bananas into his cycling jersey. It is possible he has seen demoniacal eating behaviour many times before on previous events.
A 40 minute bus transfer was required from Marseilles to Aix en Provence where the stage 6 route started. The “athletes “ mounted the coach and were carried to the start where they met their bikes and then set off.
On paper the day looked as if it might be quite quiet only 178km (110miles) with only one climb a category 4. The riders were planning to use this as a gentle recovery day after the previous day’s climbs.
Unfortunately it did not go to plan the Mistral was blowing and the riders were subjected to very strong winds. As they made their way across the Var bridge they were almost fell a yard in one direction as they moved behind a pylon and the y were then buffeted in the opposite direction as they moved out from cover.
Mainly flat today only one biggish hill the col de Vayade, this was easilly dealt with.
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| Col de Vayade |
Extreme co-operation was needed and the riders formed into groups taking turns in front to battle the wind. Unfortunately both of Matt’s legs are a problem now and they have started to swell. But luckily the TdF has an expert physiotherapist “Jen” and she has some very advanced techniques to manage the problem.
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| Swelling reducing dressings - look cool |
This required an extra bandage session after the first feeding station which meant all the other riders had long gone so Nick and Matt had to really turn on the pressure to catch up with a group so that they could take a rest behind! This almost undid much of the good work she had done at the feed that afternoon more new riders arrived in Montpellier to cycle the trip to the end of the Pyrenees. Despite the hard day
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| TdF Support team in action in hotel car park |
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