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