Galibier

Tour de France 2021 – Recap

Tour de France LogoAs promised, I will conclude the reporting on my Tour de France 2021 with a recap.

I cycled 14 out of 15 available days and have my own stupidity to blame for having a “rest day”.

While I guess this Tour de France once again showed I’m (still) capable of pushing myself through – and over – my limits, there’s no denying that I will have to take it down a notch.

How much will also depend on my capability to keep enduring the back pain on every climb.

Sure, taking in the mostly overwhelming landscapes, the feeling of tininess when looking around and the stunning views are great “distractors”.

But I keep increasing the number of short breaks to ease the pain, which eventually do not help very much any more either.

On the upside, these enable me to take in more of the views and make pictures too 😂

Anyway, lets get to the recap…

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Tour de France 2021 – Stage 11 (Marmotte)

Marmotte or Bust

Yes, I did use that title before. Thank you for so closely following / reading my blog 😂

However, at the time I spoke about my plans to do two of them, Sestriere (La Marmotta) and the classic Marmotte Granfondo Alpes during that Tour de France of 2017.

Both were a bust, whereas I didn’t even start the classic, due to the (general) weather conditions and had a flat with no spare tube(s) during the La Marmotta.

This year, being located at an even better spot to start it, I finally did ride Marmotte Granfondo Alpes, but with a twist…

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Tour de France 2021 – Near The Base Camp

Tour de France LogoAs mentioned, we will stay in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne for my Tour de France 2021.

I’ve designated Briançon and Barcelonnette as French cycling hotspots – like Corvara and Bormio in the Dolomites – but this capital of the Maurienne Valley in the Savoie is definitely one too.

There are a lot of cols within cycling distance and a lot more further away, where opting for a car transfer seems the way to go.

The mountains on the southern side are the Dauphiné Alps and the Cottian Alps.

On the northern side is the part of the Graian Alps known as the Vanoise.

In this post, I’ll list the cols and possible routes that are “around the corner” from our base camp.

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Tour de France 2021

Tour de France LogoSo, thanks to the ongoing pandemic and subsequent “no fly” policy in the family, I get another cycling adventure this year.

As we will be going to France, I have obviously and as usual dubbed it “Tour de France 2021”.

While I do feel sorry for Paula’s not getting her well deserved sun vacation, I’m also excited at the prospect of having another go at the giants of the French Alps.

I was thinking (again) to plan for the Pyrenees, but I eventually couldn’t withstand the temptation of a remake of part one of my Tour de France 2014.

That was way too short – not the tour, just the first part – to tackle everything that’s in that area.

So for the Tour de France 2021, we’ve rented an apartment in Saint-Jean-de Maurienne, which is located at the base of the…

*Drum Roll*

… Col de la Croix de Fer.

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How Time Flies – TDF 2017 Report

Tour de France 2017 - Izoard summit
Izoard summit – if you click and zoom in, you can see the photographer’s car in the background a few bends down…

Bless me followers, for I have sinned.

Or more accurately: I have neglected you and I am sorry.

Well, I’m not sorry at all obviously, but I do feel a wee bit guilty that I have not even tried to find the time to write a post in months…

After all, this blog only exists for me to bore you to death with my ‘cycling adventures’, so I should have tried harder.

Then again, so should you: I haven’t received any request for a Tour de France 2017 report…

Anyway, let’s play catch up, shall we?

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