Peter Ford of The Christian Science Monitor answered the proverbial question, How Hard is the Tour de France?, by renting a bike and tackling the Col de Grosse Pierre and Col des Feignes. These are the first two Category 3 climbs outside of Gerardmer at the beginning of today’s Stage 9.
Ford admitted “I’m on the wrong side of 50, fully enjoy the gastronomic pleasures of France, and have not seriously exercised for several years”, but his editor asked him to do something to illustrate the physical challenge of riding the Tour. I hope this guy saw his Internist before he did it, because just heading out and riding a 950 foot climb (from the start at 666 meters or 2,185 feet above sea level to the peak at 955 meters or 3,133 feet) followed by a second climb of similar height but more gentle gradient isn’t a great idea if you haven’t seriously exercised in a period of years.
Ford covered the 16 mile route in about two hours. He fell once, mainly because he picked the wrong gear on a steeper stretch of the Col des Feignes.
This was an interesting but brief article. Of course we now know that these two climbs strung out the Tour peloton more than expected because a breakaway began almost at the flag drop this morning.
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