WEDNESDAY JULY 25TH
STAGE FIFTEEN
FOIX TO LOUNDENVIELLE-LE LOURON, 196 km
Geoff is forced to sit out again today and hands over diary duties to IAN
WHITTELL
THE showcase Pyreneean stage of the 2007 Tour took in five climbs over nearly
125 miles and was generally considered the hardest day of the race. Few of us
would disagree with that assessment after Team Thomas' five riders took on some
of the most feared climbs in the cycling world.
It was another day Big Griz will long remember hopefully with a sense of
enjoyment as well as deserved pride in years to come as he hauled his
considerable frame up thousands of metres of mountains.
Mike, a former rugby player, has suffered from the effects of his cancer
treatment like all his colleagues out here on the Thomas Tour. The aggressive
radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgery and bone marrow transplant used to deal with
his non-Hodgkins lymphoma means his heart is less effective than it had been
prior to him contracting the disease and that becomes a significant factor once
the roads of France point skywards something they have done with increasing
regularity and severity recently.
Riding along on the flat in a paceline sometimes at speeds around the 30mph
mark on our best days Griz has no problems matching the strongest riders or
taking his turn on the front of the group. In the mountains, he has shown
incredible resilience and steely determination to suffer over the terrain at his
own pace.
Today summed up Griz and his attitude in my eyes. If the Tour de France were
settled on riders' ability to suffer in the saddle, then he'd be in the yellow
jersey every day.
An early saunt up the cat two Col de Port was slow for Griz, but nothing too
taxing, but there followed something like 70 km riding along a valley road, in
the rising heat, which was hard going, especially with four major climbs to
come.
The first of those, the Portet de'Aspet, was not as fearsome as per
programme, with Griz riding up with Steve and Pete at a decent tempo, the whole
group of us pausing on the descent to pay our respects at the memorial to Fabio
Casartelli, the Italian rider who died on the road in 1995. We did the same,
with Geoff, when we rode the 1995 Tour and it seemed fitting that another
generation of Team Thomas riders did the same today.
Unfortunately, the rest of the descent soon gave way to the start of the next
climb the Col de Mente - which started reasonably enough but soon toughened up
in that typical, never-ending, nagging Pyreneean way. At the top, there was a
brief re-group and re-fuelling stop before a fantastic descent and the start of
the day's real killer.
The Port de Bales was only surfaced last autumn and was new to the Tour this
week on a stage won by Alexander Vinokourov who rode up the 19km climb in an
astounding 50 minutes.
We were never going to challenge that but, after such a long time in the
saddle, Griz was really beginning to struggle and, as we had done on the road
into Marseille last week, we reluctantly took the decision to split the team
into two for the remainder of the day.
While Pete, Steve and Dave whipped up the climb in a super-impressive hour
and a half, Griz churned it out in a little over two hours, an outstanding
effort given that the gradient routinely topped 11 per cent. Pete's Garmin
on-board sat nav computer tells you the gradient of the climb you're on which
can be depressing at times when it starts ticking into the teens as high as 17
per cent at some points on this stage.
Sadly, Griz's great effort was still not enough to guarantee we would finish
the stage in daylight and, after yet another great descent (these Pyreneean
descents don't quite make up for the torture of the climbs but they go some way
towards it) we hit the foot of the Peyresourde.
This last climb was nowhere near as bad as it might have been but, by the
top, Griz had pretty much given all he had to give something that all the Team
Thomas cancer survivors have done throughout the Tour.
It was dark by the time we reached the summit and the 11 km drop to the
finish line was handled gingerly, with the two riders positioned between two
support Land Rovers for lighting and safety. It was an exhilarating end to a day
which had pushed Griz to the limits but failed to finish him off.
A post-10pm finish made this one of those days of Team Thomas folklore and,
having been with Geoff throughout 2005 and this effort, Griz deserves his place
among Geoff's own legendary efforts.
The achievements of the five cancer survivors on this Tour has never failed
to stagger myself and Pete Slater, the other "non-survivor" in the group.
The pair of us know how difficult this Tour task is and how much suffering is
involved. For people who have been through what Geoff, Griz, Dave, Bully and
Steve have been through to voluntarily and willingly do this to themselves
whether to exorcise their own personal ghosts or to raise money and awareness
for Geoff's Foundation is a staggering accomplishment.
Two years ago, I wrote for Cycling Weekly, that Geoff's achievement was the
most amazing sporting feat I had ever seen. Now, I'll say the same about the
achievements of Griz, Dave, Bully and Steve.
