Tour de France 2023 – Countdown

Tour de France 2023 countdown has begun. I haven’t planned much yet, though…

Four weeks from now, I will be on my brand new Trek Émonda for stage 2 – or 3 – of my Tour de France.

It will be day three, but you should know I usually kick of with a prologue.

A tradition I might actually break with this year, as my prologue’s are nothing like the pro’s short (T)TT’s to kick off many grand tours.

But this years Tour de France – two possible GC contenders short after day 1 – didn’t get off to an easy start either.

So, looking at what I have planned, I might start with stage 1 as well…

We will drive to Montréjeau, 40 kms North of Bagnères-de-Luchon, for our stopover at “la Magie des Rêves”, where else 😎

To get to our base camp from there, the easiest way is – besides by car – to cycle the near flat east-west-south route over D-roads.

But as I do want to get some real cols in, that means the Port de Balès, then descend to Bagnères-de-Luchon, the start of the Col de Peyresourde, descend into Arreau and topping the ride off with the Col d’Aspin.

From the Aspin summit, it will be a 23 kms descend into Bagnères-de-Bigorre, to settle in our base camp, “Cozy Nest” (Nid Douilet).

As stated, I haven’t planned much and this 120 kilometer stage with 3,000 meters of elevation might be too much to start with.

I’ll take it from there, prioritizing what I “must” do and taking everything else as a bonus.

Next Thursday, I’ll first get eye surgery again, to fix the problem that was introduced after my cataract surgery left me with two different lenses, one at 0 and one at -2.

However, I should be okay again the day after…