Cooked in the Guadeloupean jungle

Stage 6 today. The stage with the most climbing of the race. We also moved to the western part of the island, Basse-Terre, which has significantly longer climbs and much more of a rainforest feel than the eastern part, Grande-Terre. The first 75 km were relatively straightforward. After that we hit three climbs back-to-back, each harder than the previous one. First, 2.6 km at 6.4% (with the opening 1.5 km averaging 10%). Then 3 km at a steady 8%. Finally, the end boss: 7 km at 7.2%. After that it was mostly downhill and flat towards the finish.

I woke up feeling pretty okay after yesterday’s crash. Obviously a bit of road rash here and there, but nothing too bad. The plan for the team today was to get someone into the break on the easier opening section and see if he could survive long enough to support me later in the race. In the best-case scenario he would even make it to the finish, although that always seemed rather unlikely. Vorarlberg were on a mission today: win the stage with Stüssi, their GC rider and, on paper, by far the strongest climber in the race. He was still a few minutes down because of the earlier breakaways, so they wanted to take back as much time as possible.

My own plan was simple: save as much energy as possible until the climbs, like every GC rider. The race unfolded pretty much exactly as expected. Vorarlberg controlled from the front and a break went with one of our riders in it. The gap never grew beyond one and a half to two minutes because Vorarlberg kept the pressure on. By the time we reached the first category-two climb they only had around 1:20 left and we caught them almost immediately. My teammate managed to pour one cold bottle of water over my back before sitting up.

Not the most rewarding breakaway to be in, but big kudos to him for going.
The peloton immediately started to thin out. Around 40 to 50 riders remained after the first climb, and on the second one Vorarlberg continued setting a brutal pace. We crested with roughly 25 riders left. On that 3 km climb I really tried to ride my own pace. Three kilometres at 8% is steep enough that everyone naturally finds their own rhythm. I was happy to leave a few metres on the riders in front, knowing I could pace myself back if needed. That didn’t mean it was easy. I was riding on my limit.

With little time for recovery before the final climb, I already feared for what eventually happened. I was still pretty cooked from the previous climb. As soon as we hit the bottom of the final ascent, Stüssi attacked immediately. I saw him go and didn’t even try to follow. What followed for me was simply a sufferfest to the top. I was completely empty, pouring every bottle of water I could find over myself while trying to limit the damage. Eventually I crested in a group riding for around 13th place.

Not being interested in P13 at all, I just wanted to go as hard as possible to the finish and minimize the GC losses. I wasn’t overly impressed by the pulls in our group, but they claimed I was simply riding too hard. “You’re only 60 kilos.” Well… did you hear me complain on the climbs that they were riding too hard for my 74 kilos? So yes, I got slightly annoyed.

Eventually I even attacked the group in the final two kilometres. The move got brought back by a few riders who weren’t riding at all because they had teammates further up the road. Naturally, that completely killed the cooperation. So I ended up pulling the group all the way to the finish anyway. Maybe not the smartest decision. But I was annoyed. 😉

Final damage: 4:12 behind the two Vendée U riders, who actually caught Stüssi on the descent, dropped him and still managed to put another forty seconds into him.
GC-wise I’m currently sitting 9th overall.
Hopefully that also gives me a little more freedom over the coming stages. I’m not particularly interested in finishing this race in ninth overall, so let’s see what opportunities the next few days bring.