MTB Tour de France stage 7

Today's final stage in Monmartre was what all the teams had been
looking forward to for the past 8 days. On arrival, the sun was
shining and the crowds were well and truly out - the place was heaving
with tourists and touts sellling tat. I went out to pre-ride the
course and found the streets unmarshalled and full of people! It was
certainly an interesting course reccie, calling to people and
descending the steps with people climbing up the other side. The
course wiggled its way around the Montmartre area, up and down 500
steps and many road climbs. Unlike previous venues, the steps were
all straight down, making descending them more straightforward and a
matter of guts as to how fast to take them.

All too soon it was time to start racing. With a local youth marching
band announcing the arrival of each rider on the start steps as if at
an execution it was certainly a dramatic affair. The course has been
fully taped and barriered off, with huge numbers of marshalls and
police present to control the thousands of tourists lining the route.
Billy was the first of our team to go off. He looked fast as he
headed down the first set of steps and faster still as the cam around
the back of the start steps nearing the finish. Luke was next off and
I? followed soon after. The course was a heart in the mouth affair
the entire way round but having that many people cheering you on and
racing on closed roads and steps in the middle of Paris just felt
awesome. It is without doubt the best thing I have ever done on a
bike. Running up 500 steps and going at full tilt for 13 minutes
absolutely killed me with the continuing cold, and after finishing I
needed 30 mins in the ambulance to get my heart rate and breathing
back under control. By this point, it was becoming clear that Billy
had set a very fast time indeed. After nearly 1.5hrs of nail-biting
waiting as rider after rider came down the course we were left with
one conclusion - he might actually win this thing! As the top 10
riders set off at 2 minute intervals, we counted down the challengers
to Billy's 11mins 34secs time. rider after rider failed to beat it.
It came down to Sergio Mantecon, of Trek Lorca, who, as the current
leader, went off last. We wondered how much he would attack the
course, given his 4min lead over second place, but half way round his
lap it was clear he was really trying. He crossed the line in....
11mins 36secs! Billy had one in Paris! This was the most
unbelievable end to a fantastic day's racing. The standard of the
field was so impressive that this must stand as Billy's biggest ever
win. Lee had finished in 23rd 1min down on Billy, me in 39th 2 mins
down and Luke in 41st, 10 seconds behind me.

The overall results placed Lee in 25th overall - a huge result and
very valuable in terms of UCI points for him. I placed 36th and Luke
37th. Given my battle with the cold all week, I was happy with this
result - fully fit I perhaps could have scraped 33rd or 34th, but
certainly no better. Billy wasn't classified in the overall due to
his DNF on stage 6 - but who cares when you win 2 huge trophies and a
good wodge of spending money in Montmartre!

Sitting here back in the UK, it feels odd not to be racing today. The
Tour de France VTT L'Hexagonal is a once in a lifetime experience that
I will never, ever forget. Having such a supportive and encouraging
team and team manager in Frank really made the event what it was. If
anyone gets an invite to race this event, don't even think twice about
it. If you need a rider, I might just know somebody...

GB

Tour VTT Stage 6 - Argenteuil

After the dullfest of stage 5, I had high hopes for a return to the
form of the previous 2 days for stage 6. Knowing it was the final XC
stage of the Tour, it was a case of all or nothing for Team
Whyte/Salsa as we looked to consolidate our 9th position in the team
standings as well as our individual positions. Things looked bleak on
the drive to Paris the day before stage 6, with the motorways signs
displaying warning messages about violent thunderstorms that evening.
Sure enough, I was awoken in the early hours by torrential rain,
thunder and lightening. On arrival at the course, which was set on a
hill in a northern suburb of Paris (the only stage not be be set in a
town centre), the damage done by the rain was self evident. We were
warned by the marshalls not to try to reach the car park in our van
due to the mud. We set out walking the course and found it be be in
fair condition given the rain and drying out quickly in the heat and
sunshine. Within a few hours, the track was dry and Schmidt gunned
the van up the muddy hill, arriving somewhat sideways in the arena
area. It's ok though - we're in a van.

Now the track was drying out - the mud was like SITS/Mayhem -
miserable to dry in a short time when it gets sunny - we went for a
practice and found yet another cyclocross style track, with wide
grassy sections, fast descents, some steep downs and steeper ups -
although only one was unridable due to a huge kerbstone at the bottom.
With laps taking around 17 minutes, we knew it was going to be more
fast group racing. From the gun, the pace was very fast. Lee
actually made it to the front of the field temporarily, before the
leaders flew round him as the course reached to top of the start hill.
I was in a group of 4 or 5 riders, including Luke, in 31-35th or so.
Billy was between us and Lee at this stage. On lap 3, we passes Billy
mending a flat but knew he'd be making every effort to catch our group
again later on. On lap 4, my cold took its toll due to the pace of
the race and, unable to really breath properly, I was forced out the
back of our group and suffered massively on the final 3 laps - I was
lapped by the leaders on lap 7 so missed out on completing all 8 laps.
I was devastated about this as, had I managed to stay with Luke (i.e.
had I not been ill!) I would have completed the distance. Luke
avoided being lapped by 20 or 30 seconds - it really was that close.
I rolled over the line in 40th, 7mins down on Luke in 31st (who
managed to outsprint the tearful "Slicks" in the final 100m to the
finish line). Billy was forced to retire on lap 6 due to yet another
puncture and a snapped chain was unable to fix. Lee was having an
awesome ride and crossed the line in 22nd - his best result of the
Tour so far.

After the final XC race of the Tour, Lee was in 25th, me 36th, Luke
37th 2 mins down and Billy, due to his DNF today, was not classified.
During the evening I met up with Nicky who had come over to watch the
last 2 days racing. It was fantastic to have her there and to get
away from the circus atmosphere for a short while, have a beer and a
double cheese, bacon and onion burger in Hippopotamus - rather
honestly named after what you look like after too many visits.

Tomorrow's stage in Montmartre is what all the teams have been looking
forward to for the entire tour - with the promise of 500 steps of
descent and 500 of climbing, not to mention thousands of spectators,
it is certain to be an awesome race.

GB

Tour de France VTT Stage 5 - Margon

We arrived in good time for once at today's race, the usual faffing
diminishing as the week progresses. Even Rabobank hadn't set up their
usually vast area when we rolled in. With heavy rain overnight, and
some glances at riders who had gone on a practice lap, it was clear
this was going to be a muddy race - real Mayhem style mud. Being
uncertain of the conditions, I grabbed the spare Marin Rock Springs
out of the van and went for a quick reccie in my trainers. The first
half of the course went through the town, then along a grassy path
before heading into some woods. Those of you who have ridden Mayhem
and SITS a few times would have been very familiar with these woods
and their zig-zag-zig-zag trails. You had to run (struggle and slide)
to the top of the woods before traversing the off camber hillslope 3
or 4 times on your way down. It was claggy, slippery and also had
some flints thrown in for no good reason. Needless to say, I hated
it. The second half of the course was... er.... rubbish. It went
round a really, really wet and boggy field before going around a
football pitch, up a couple of grassy banks, through a sand pit and
then back to the start. I got back to the van, fitted the Mud Sharks
and warned the others.

Those of you that have read all of these reports are probably noticing
now that this course description is a little brief - the lap was only
4km. The number of laps was originally set at 8, but on the start
line they announced that the number of laps would be set based on the
leader's first lap time. After lap 1, the lap board said 9. 10 laps!
Of this course! My head really wasn't in it from the start, plus my
cold was really bad today. I managed to stay with Luke and 3 Santos
riders for the first 3 laps, but then lost them in the slippery woods.
I pretty much resigned myself to a poor result. I endured 9 laps,
thankfully I was lapped so I didn't have to do all 10. Luke ended up
8 minutes ahead of me in 35th - his best result so far (I think). Lee
and Billy were having an awesome race and were riding in a group
covering the early 20s positions. They managed to ride all 10 laps
and ended up 23rd and 25th on the day, only 10mins behind the winner.
They had a great day. Lee is now 26th overall, with 3 other positions
only 6 mins up on him. Billy is in 33rd, with one possible place to
make up, I'm in 37th with a couple of places looking likely and Luke
is in 40th, not far at all behind me.

The race was dominated today by the 4 Rabobank team riders, all of
whom we later learned are pro cyclocross riders. That explains a few
things then! Watching those guys ride the slippery trails was really
impressive - they have a lot of skill as well as a lot of fitness.
The yellow jersey rider, Sergio Mantecon of Trek Lorca, finished in
8th today. His lead over the second place Rabobank rider cut to 1min.
I'd love to see him win the event - not only because he has led since
stage 2, but more because of the attitude of the Trek Lorca team.
They just seem so chilled out, happy and normal, living out of a hire
car and a van like us. Nice guys that deserve a win. You'd think
that after 10 years running this race, they would be able to find 7
good MTB courses in the whole of France! Today was quite easily the
worst MTB course I have ever ridden. Hopefully tomorrow's stage, the
last XC race before the TT in Montmartre, will have more fun in store.

GB

Tour VTT stage 4

Today's race took place in the Medieval town of Sainte-Suzanne. The
weather forecast was dreadful. We awoke in our chalets to the sound
of heavy rain, so began changing tyres once again. With the Rocket
Rons fitted, we went for a practice nice and early, 2hrs before the
race. The course started by going through the town, through the
courtyard of the old castle, down some steps (quelle surprise) and
then down a nice off camber grassy slope with some added rock slabs
for good measure. After the drop onto the road at the bottom, the
course wound its way up the other side of the valley. The climb was
in 3 stages and was 2km in total. Stage 1 was on steep, rocky, loose
ground - it seemed like an old sunken cobbled road - and was very hard
to ride as the rocks were slippery. As the race went on, this section
became easier to ride as a line appeared in the bushes to the left.
Section 2 was big ring and very ridable, a nice double track (kind of)
up through the woods. Section 3 was up a narrow, steep, muddy and
rocky chute and was a mix of running and cycling - although again by
the end of the race only 10-20m wasn't ridable. From the top, you got
an amazing view of the chateau before descending down a very steep,
rocky, wet and rooty downhill. The bottom section was very technical
and steep. The final drop onto the cobbled road you began the climb
on was unrideable due to the steep, twisty steps that had been built
on it - it appeared the race went down what was usually a footpath.
After negotiating this section, the course climbed once again for a
short while before dropping back down to the river and running
alongside it for a while. The final climb back up to the chateau was
very steep and only the middle section was ridable. The lower section
was on loose rocks and traction was largely impossible, the top
section was so steep it was a struggle to push up it. At the top, the
course went through an old door in the Medieval wall of the castle,
then through the village streets and back to the start.

The race started with a short 1km start loop before heading out onto
the course. An enormous bottleneck formed at the first set of
downhill steps, with riders barging their way through. After this,
the field was very dispersed and it was a case of head down and get on
with it. Thankfully, the rain had gone and the course was drying up.
Lines started to appear and the laps turned out to be quite fun. I
rode with Luke for the first 2 laps, then dropped him on the long hill
and set off on my own. I passed a few other riders and, apart from
one little bike-ditching moment at the bottom of the technical
downhill, was happy with the way the race went, especially as I had a
really gungy cough beforehand. I turned out to be the last rider
through not to get lapped and finished 18 mins behind the leader in
40th. Being soaked by a thunderstorm was my penance for being so far
behind. Lee had a fantastic race once again and finshed only 9
minutes behind the winner in 23rd place, our team's best result so far
and much more indicative of Lee's true ability. Billy finished in
33rd, 8 mins behind Lee and 10 mins ahead of me. Luke was 47th, one
lap down.

The continuous racing is starting to take its toll on bodies and bikes
- today's race was very hilly and the mud certainly helped to destroy
our small selection of brake pads. Usually when racing, you will pick
up a knock of some description but then have a week to recover from
it. I now have blisters from all the running, a sore left calf and a
bashed right shoulder. It all adds up... Tonight's accommodation in
the Hotel du Stade is a bit interesting. It feels like they've just
kicked the prostitutes out for the night...

Tomorrow's race is less hilly than today in terms of altitude, but
seems to make a lot of use of the same hill. The course zig-zags
through the same woods 6 times. Wonderful.

GB

Positions after Stage 3

I just found out our overall positions. Lee is in 31st after finishing
33rd yesterday. He isn't too far off being in the mid-20s which would
be awesome. Billy is 38th, I'm 40th and Luke is 41st.

GB

MTB Tour de France day 3

Today's stage took place in a little village called Mortagne sur Sevre
in the Vendee region. Having had little sleep the night before due to
a stinking cold I wasn't really up for the race at all. We arrived at
the race in good time, had lunch at what seemed like a truck stop
cafe, then headed to the venue to pre-ride the course and buy some
anti-cold tablets. Having been caught out by a couple of sections
ridden at race pace in stage 1, I was keen to practice the course more
before this race. After swapping the slick Furious Fred tyres Luke
and I had been using for stages 1 and 2 to more grippy and Racing
Ralphs we set off on the practice lap. The course went up a steep
path pretty much from the start, then through the town and,
unsurprisingly, down some steps. These were the longest and steepest
steps we had ridden so far. Thankfully, there was a smooth line to
the left and right hand sides of the steps down a concrete rainwater
channel, so it was a simple matter of weight back and control the
speed. After the steps, the course headed along the Sevre river, over
a bridge and into the woods. The trails on this section were
brilliant - a few sections were too steep to ride and so running made
an unwelcome return. One section in particular was even hard to carry
the bike up as the rocks were so large and jagged. The flat and
downhill sections in the woods more than made up for the running
though - they were much like a trail centre in feel, just with steeper
hairpins and steeper climbs. Eventually you came out of the woods,
crossed back over the river using a concrete dam which was covered in
moss, very slippery and had no edges to stop you ending up in the
river! After a final climbs which started out as a clamber over rocks
and ended with a good ridable section, the course headed back into the
start arena via a couple of drops and climbs over steps.

The race, which was at 6pm, started badly for Luke and myself as we
were boxed in behind someone who didn't seem to notice the race had
started. When we'd negotiated our way around him, we found ourselves
riding with the leading women for a bit. We kept attacking and trying
to bridge the gap between us and the group ahead. Unfortunately, my
chain came off on one of the runs up some steps, so I dropped back a
lot of places while I unjammed it and got back on. Luke was long gone
by this point. I was so cross as by now we were making good progress
through the field. It took me 2 laps to catch Luke again, then we
rode round together for the next 2 laps. On lap 5, I managed to drop
Luke on the final hill. All the while we were passing people who had
gone off too hard and blown - it was a tough course. At the end of
lap 5, I caught Billy who was just riding round as he didn't feel so
good today. We rode together until the leaders came past to lap us -
then Billy tore off after them leaving me to ride the last 1/2 lap
alone. His change of speed was most impressive! At the finish, Frank
said that Lee was having a great race - he was the only one of us not
to get lapped and so the only one to ride all 7 laps (we did 6). Lee
was really pleased with his ride today - even if the spectators lining
the course thought he was Italian (it's the jersey....).

Stage 3 really was a brilliant race - it was nice to finally get some
proper MTB trails to race on. Having so many people cheer you on all
the way round the lap was awesome. Now we have a rest day before 3 XC
races in a row on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

GB

Tour de France VTT Stage 2

Well today's stage was like nothing I've ever raced before. It was
very hot, again, and very, very dusty. I'm still sneezing dust out
now...

It was an 8km lap almost entirely on gravel roads and the race lasted
for 7 laps. It was pan flat apart from a couple of very gentle
gradients. There was one exception to this - a motocross style
up/down/up/down/up/down on a very steep bank which was pretty much
unridable due to the loose gravel and the gradient. It was a case of
run up, jump on, skid down with your feet hanging everywhere and then
repeat x 3 per lap.

The start was mental - 80+ riders in a huge bunch until we hit the
up/down bit. This spread the field out quite a lot and we all ended
up riding in different groups. Billy was with the first group, then
the second group, Lee was in the group ahead of me and Luke was in the
group behind me. I spent 4 laps riding with a Spanish and Japanese
rider before I lost them going through the up/down section. I spent
the whole of the next lap chasing the group down and caught them again
just before the up/down bit only to loose them again as I was running
slower than them! Give me some proper hills any day! Sadly, this
event doesn't seem to have any until Thursday. I could see Lee for
most of the race, but just couldn't make it back to the Japanese
rider's group. I rode 3 or 4 laps on my own - killer on this course.
On the last lap, Luke's group of 4 riders caught me on the up/down
section. I had hoped to be able to stay with them and contest the
sprint at the end, but crashed on one of the loose downhill bits and
cramped in my left calf. I howled, partly with pain and partly with
frustration that I'd been ahead of Luke for 6.5 laps and now he'd
overtaken me! I rode the last 1/2 lap with a group of 2 other riders,
who I beat in the final sprint.

Billy finished 31st (again), Lee 36th, Luke 39th and me 42nd, all in
around 1hr 54mins - Lee's average speed on his Garmin was 17mph!
Crazy. We were 10mins behind the winner (or vainqueur in French,
which sounded a lot like something else when he was being called to
the podium...).

Tomorrow we have been warned that the stage is very difficult - both
the commissaire and race organiser, usually very jovial, looked
genuinely worried when the were telling us about it... We shall see.
Now I best get on with stretching out my calf.

GB

MTB Tour de France Stage 1

Good evening

So today was a 4km TT around the park and gardens in Niort. It was
nice and hot and Furious Freds were definitely the order of the day.
The course started with a very slippery (or not if you had proper
tyres...) and windy gravel path before crossing a bridge, going down
some steps and alongside the river. After avoiding a tramp, his dog
and a mallard you climbed into the gardens which were built on the
side of a 50m high steep slope. You had to run up some steps, then
down a very steep flight of steps with turns. 50% rode, 50% ran. I
ran, the rest of the team rode. Even some of the top guys we watched
later were running - although the winner was very fast and very
smooth. It looked as though he was riding a smooth piece of trail.
After that, the course wiggled up and down the hill, up and down some
more steps and then round the swimming pool back to the finish. The
course was very steep in places and the steps needed a lot of practice
to get used to them. Encouragement from Lee helped a lot here.

Out of 75 starters, Billy finished in 31st with 8.08 with Lee in 33rd
only 1 second behind. Luke was 49th in 8.29 and I was 50th, again 1
second behind! Looks like we have some good team battles going on. The
winner finished in 7.15, 2nd in 7.22 and 3rd in 7.27. 2 of the top 3
were U-23. Billy was 12th U-23.

2 valuable lessons learned - First, pre-ride everything at race pace,
even the easy looking bits. Second, duck more. I smashed my head twice
- once on a low branch and once on a low bridge. Ouch.
Tomorrow is a flat XC race also in Niort but somewhere else to today,
it looks much like Sherwood. 8 laps, 7km laps.

GB

MTB Tour de France

Hi
Team Whyte/Salsa GB of Billy Whenman & Luke Smith (Whyte), Lee
Williams (Wiggle) and myself are currently in France for the 10th
Annual Tour L'Hexagonal - the MTB Tour de France. So far we've done a
lot of being very hot in a van and a lot of sitting around being hot.
Tomorrow we start cycling and being very hot. We have a one lap, 4km
TT to open things. The course is around a pool, round a park, up a
hill and down through the town. Should be exciting racing and at least
I can't get lapped at this stage. The palmares of the other riders are
very impressive - Olympians, National Champs etc - I feel a little out
of place but let's see what happens when the gun goes...
I'll try to post updates as and when internet connections allow, which
will probably be in the evenings.
GB