Stage 6 - Col du Télégraphe/Galibier (Lanslevillard to Bourg d'Oisans)

Sunday's Stage 6 included 2 climbs: the Col du Télégraphe and the infamous Tour de France climb, the Col du Galibier.  I was really excited about cycling up the Galibier but after studying the profile and bearing in mind that the Télégraphe had to be overcome first, I was sure it was going to be a tough day at the office. 

Monastery on a hill near Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne

Before beginning the Télégraphe ascent we had a 44km warmer-upper along a main road with a slightly downhill gradient.  We ripped down the road in "train" formation, to use some cycling parlance.  For those of you not familiar with such terminology, a train is a formation of cyclists who ride in a bunch or group in order to conserve energy and more importantly to go faster by slipstreaming the rider in front.  Each rider takes his turn at the front breaking the wind (and sometimes breaking wind!).  This is the fundamental reason why the peloton will almost always catch a breakaway rider in a race.  But I digress... We made it to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne at the foot of the Télégraphe in no time, tried in vain to find a coffee shop for a quick espresso, and instead proceeded up the hill.  It was around 10am and already quite warm.  Some sections of the first climb were steep enough, and there were tonnes of switchbacks.

 Signage for the 2 climbs which lay ahead

With such a profile it is possible to gain altitude quickly and after only 20 mins or so I could see Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne way down below.  The Col du Télégraph is so named because at the very top of the climb is a series of radio and TV towers. It's a rather large cement structure that can be seen from a long distance away.  The climb itself is 11.8 km long, gaining 856 m. in height (an average of 7.3%). The maximum gradient is 9.8% at the summit which didn't take me too long to reach.  To my surprise I was, for the 2nd consecutive day, the first to the top.  The summit itself is not like your typical col, but serves I guess as a prelude to Galibier.  We had lunch here, because it seemed the most opportune time and point to do so, after which we descended a small distance into the ski town of Valloire and started the long steady climb upwards one again.

Start of Galibier ascent outside Valloire (Limey dead ahead!)

I got talking to a German girl and her friend from Bristol who told me that he had been up the Galibier once before at the tender age of 14.  Although the girl was riding strong out of Valloire, we dropped her when the gradient really started to kick up with around 10kms to go.  The actual climb to the summit starts at Valloire and is 18.1 km long at an average of 6.9% (height gain: 1245 m). The maximum gradient is 10.1% at the summit.

Switchbacks towards summit of Galibier

Again, it was scorcius maximus as we rode up through the valley, but it was pleasant and the scenery was glorious, with flowers, green fields and little streams flowing through.  Generally speaking, the further up you go on an Alpine climb the greater vegetational changes you will see and what was once a shady tree filled climb becomes a treeless, fairly barren landscape with large ice sections everywhere.  As promised by the limey from Bristol, the going got really tough as we rounded a corner with around 8kms to go and at a height above sea level of around 2000m.  Thankfully the temperature had cooled a bit, but that provided only a small comfort as I looked along a road above me that seemed to be never ending.  On Galibier and a few other climbs there are signs every kilometre that tell you how much you have to climb before you reach the summit, as well as the a gradient indicator.  The jury is still out on whether or not I like them.  Sometimes you forget what the previous sign had said and instead of 4kms to go, you have 6kms, such is your inability to think straight with the lack of oxygen and the constant agony of the climb.  Meanwhile motorbikes are whizzing by on the wrong side of the road gaining altitude at a rate that seems infinitely higher than the humble cyclist whos peddles are barely turning.  As soon as I hit the 10% gradient of the final couple of kms I drop to my last gear and grit my teeth looking up at around 5 or 6 switchbacks to the summit.  The last part is an absolute killer and I'm gasping for breath as I power up over the top to be greeted by a couple of the Aussie blokes who've summited before me.  Wow, what a ride.  Boy was I happy to be at the top.  The Galibier proved a really tough cookie but I had a feeling a deep elation having conquered it.

 Looking back down at the ascent, good job!

Rune, Greg, Damo, Colly, Blake, Adrian on the summit of Galibier

As it was Sunday we had a lot of traffic to contend with on the decent.  The 12% gradient on the southerly descent of the Galibier towards Col du Lautaret was very fast and I was conscious of not overshooting any of the hairpins for fear of ploughing into a vehicle coming in the other direction.  We still had 48kms to our camping site in Bourg d'Oisans and because of the said traffic the brake shoes on my bike got a good shaving on the way down.  We passed over the route we would be taking out of Bourg d'Oisans 2 days later, albeit in a different direction.  An Irish guy with a board.ie cycling jersey joined our little train, consisting of Tim, Pete and I.  We exchanged only a couple of words before we went in opposite directions at the roundabout entering Bourg d'Oisans.

12% gradient descent with no barriers - Hairy!!

Spirits were high back in camp due to a long awaited rest day we were due the following day.  We were joined by Simon Hayes, editor of Bicycling Austrialia and freelance photographer called Eamon Fitzpatrick, also from Australia, although the name might suggest otherwise.  Simon was going to cycle with us to Nice, and Eamon was going to take some action shots of us on our bikes.  We had another great dinner thanks to the Bike Dreams crew and looked forward to lounging around the pool the following day at the campsite.  Tuesday would see us tackle the most legendary of all cycling routes, the paved road up L'Alpe D'Huez. SihAmon HayesH